Campus Safety Warns Students of Record Thefts

From Canada Goose coats and laptops to dorm ice cream, theft is on the rise at the Academy. 

“The number of reported thefts are obviously trending upwards,” Director of Campus Safety Paul Gravel said. According to Campus Safety data, dorm thefts reached a new high of 30 reported cases between September 2019 and February 2020. Already, this year’s thefts have surpassed the 23 and 29 total cases in the two previous school years, respectively.

Notably, these reported cases do not reflect the actual number of dorm theft cases—the actual number is anticipated to be significantly higher. According to Gravel, students mostly communicate with the Campus Safety office only when the loss exceeds a value of $500.

The thefts mostly plague dormitory communities at Exeter, although Grill and the Exeter Bookstore have seen thefts this year as well. Reports indicate a variety of stolen items, from technology to food in communal dorm refrigerators. Gravel noted that each theft leads to an increasingly less welcoming boarding atmosphere. Concrete solutions continue to evade students and faculty.

The variation in intent between cases of theft further complicates this issue: while some students simply borrow and never remember to return, others deliberately steal from the post office, dorm room or postal services such as Amazon.

Senior and Bancroft resident Keaghan Tierney commented on how prominent thefts have been throughout her time at the school. “For the three years I’ve been here, there’s been stuff stolen every single year,” she said. “Every year, we get together and talk about it, and the deans come in and threaten us, and it never works.” 

Sometimes, locking away belongings is not enough. Josh Riddick, a senior in Peabody Hall, has had money stolen from a locked closet in his dorm basement. “Know that you can’t assume that things are safe,” he said. 

However, breached trust can be difficult to avoid in a dorm where theft may be common. “Stealing makes people more aware of who they’re looking at,” prep and Hoyt resident Nur Almajali said. “I feel like there will be hostility between people because you don’t know who’s doing it.”

Many feel that more conversation between dorm members should be necessary before putting blame on certain people. “If you’re pointing fingers, you need to have conversations with that person to begin with,” Tierney said. “If you’re not resolving that issue and it’s leading to you blaming that person for something that they might not have done, you need to figure that out yourselves. It’s a very severe thing to be blaming people for, so you don’t want to blame the wrong person and have it catch wind from the deans and it becomes a big thing.”

English Instructor and Webster Dorm Head Alex Myers agreed. “This hasn’t happened for a long time, but when one or two incidents have occured and students start to say ‘I think it’s so and so who does it,’ that’s dangerous,” he said. “You never know who steals, and it’s usually never the obvious culprit. People don’t always steal because they need the money.”

To prevent dorm theft, Gravel emphasized the importance of door-locking. “Theft is a crime of opportunity. Somebody sees something, they want that thing, they convince themselves that they deserve that thing and they take it,” he said. “If you don't give them an opportunity, you're not going to be a victim. You must eliminate the opportunity by locking your door.” If students have lost their room keys, Gravel emphasized that the Campus Safety office will make a new key free of charge.

Students also believe in this simple but effective procedure. “Keeping things at home instead of bringing stuff to campus is a good idea,” Riddick said. 

Myers endorsed the door-locking procedure. “I think the only way to prevent dorm stealing is to lock the door,” he said. “I know that when I speak with boys at Webster about it, they tell me ‘Well, this is a trusting environment.’ But, they also tell me that people go through their things when they’re not there.”

Gravel pointed out the importance of communication when combating issues such as dorm theft. “When you realize you’ve lost something, backtrack your steps. Get a hold of the dorm head. Report the missing item to Campus Safety,” he said. “Our second shift officers are great about going around and finding things, and we’ll hold an investigation if the value lost is high or if there seems to be a pattern of theft. We're a high school community. Let’s look out for each other.”