<p>Should we be worried about stuff (laptops, video game consoles, etc) being stolen from dorm rooms? Besides the obvious (locking your door), what other precautions can be taken to safeguard your belongings?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>You will either have to trust your roommate that he will lock the door and that he wont steal from you. Other then that, you can lock things up in a cabinet...In Murphree (bring a padlock) it's possible with the desks, but I don't know if you can in other dorms. You can get a safe or trunk that locks, but they could always steal the trunk/safe since you can't bolt it to anything...</p>
<p>For the most part, no one steals a safe unless its one of those commercial ones (that are advertised as fireproof) that only have a keylock (each one of those safes gets a random lock out of a possible 5 or so, Ive bought 5 and 3 of them use the same key).</p>
<p>Be really smart about what you bring because it would be foolish to say stealing never occurs or is even a rare occurance. It would probably be more common then you think but not necessarily 'common'. You dont need video game consoles, leave them at home. Be smart about where you leave your laptop and its accessories (i have had my ipod chargers stolen twice and I have never had my ipod stolen), leave them in your closet everyday if need be but I wouldn't leave them out on my desk, especially if its a nice laptop. </p>
<p>Just use your common sense; dont overly trust anyone, be careful about letting suspected crazies into your room (and dont show your valuables to them), and dont steal yourself (bad karma and if the person you stole from has any backbone they will steal back).</p>
<p>Thank you for your responses!</p>
<p>I have a lot of valuables in plain view on my desk...LCD TV, Desktop, Printer, etc...but the point is you will have to trust your roommate. If you can lock the door everytime you leave then you can only blame your roommate. He would be the one that lets other people in or doesn't lock the door, or even steals from you.</p>
<p>It is really no different than being at home. If you lock the door when you leave, then only you can blame your family for either stealing from you or letting others in or failing to lock the door. The difference is that in college there is a concentration of younger people who tend to forget about security and may lack morals/ethics.</p>