Theft?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Duke University
1

<p>Just wondering if theft is much of a problem at Duke. Obviously I'm not planning on going to class and leaving my door wide open for hours on end, but have there been cases of where kids run to the bathroom, leaving their dorm room unlocked, and come back to find something gone? I've heard of this happening at some other colleges (mainly a couple of times when I went to a summer camp and they warned us not to bring laptops and stuff since they "were often stolen on campus") and was just wondering about Duke.</p>

<p>Sorry if I sound like a naive little freshman. I think I do. :)</p>

2

<p>I don't know if it is a problem, but it happens. </p>

<p>Mainly, it occurs when students, for some unknown reason, decide to leave their laptops unattended in the library without someone they know to watch it in order to get food or go back to their room. I am guilty of this, but I luckily have not had my laptop snatched. I now refrain from doing this as I would hate to lose all records of my work, especially during mid-term and finals time (Yes this has happened to students and will continue to in the future).</p>

<p>Same goes for iPods and cellphones and whatever valuables in the gym and etc.</p>

<p>I forgot my cellphone in the dining hall on West, and when I remembered I came back and could not find it. Some had taken it and charged like 20 bucks for ringtones..so no big deal, but I was ****ed and got my service suspended. Make sure you do this immediately with cellphones and credit/debit cards if you misplace it in a public area and cannot find it.</p>

<p>As for rooms, yeah I was paranoid when I first arrived, but after a while, I left my door unlocked for short periods of time (think 5-10 min). However, if I knew I would be gone for a while, I definitely locked it.</p>

3

<p>I agree with the above poster. The only time you need to worry about things getting stolen are when you leave them unattended in the library or other public places (Marketplace, the BC, etc.). I wouldn't worry too much about things being taken from your room.</p>

<p>Just an example, but last spring break I left in a mad rush, and incidentally left my lights on, my window open, and my door unlocked (I was also on the 1st floor...). I was pretty confident that I was going to come back with my tv, dvd player, and clothes all gone, but instead, was very happy/relieved to find that everything was where I had left it.</p>

4

<p>I think inside the dorms its pretty safe. If you have a bike though be sure to invest in a good U-lock since bike thefts do occur on East campus.</p>

5

<p>This was four years ago on Trent, which is no longer a dorm and was quite obviously less safe than any other dorms.</p>

<p>It's late at night, approximately midnight. My friends, whom we'll call Danny and Tripp, are staying up studying with the door to their room open. Out of the corner of his eye, Tripp sees a strange man reaching towards his wallet on the desk. Very politely, Tripp asks if he can help him. The man quickly pulls his hand away, wallet-less.</p>

<p>"Ahhh, no, was just... lookin' around."</p>

<p>Danny notices, of course, that the man is carrying a very heavy backpack.</p>

<p>Tripp continues talking to him. "Hey, man, no worries. It's a nice dorm, isn't it?"</p>

<p>The man agrees that it's a very nice dorm. (It isn't.)</p>

<p>Tripp: "Hey, want a lollipop?" Danny looks at Tripp as if he's insane.</p>

<p>Man: "Sure, man, I'll have a lollipop. S'nice of you."</p>

<p>"No problem," Tripp says, as he hands him a lollipop. The man says goodbye and leaves the room. Tripp closes the door.</p>

<p>Danny: "What? Are you crazy?!"</p>

<p>Tripp holds up a finger, asking Danny to be patient, and dials 911.</p>

<p>"Yes, I just had a strange man in here and we think he might have stolen some things. He's about six feet tall, wearing a baseball cap, maybe one hundred eighty pounds or so. ...</p>

<p>... and he'll have a lollipop in his mouth."</p>

6

<p>OK..I wanna mention something that you might forget to bring up..there are occasional breaches of the No Solicitations on campus rules by adults who prey on young people who are startled to find someone at their door asking for charity. My S complained that total stranger adults..knocked randomly on the dorm's halls..room to room telling "hard luck" stories and outright asking for cash, waking up sleeping Dukies..perhaps a Sunday morning? S told me some of the kids gave cash, some let them in their rooms, others shut their doors and callled campus police...I guess in clinical psych this is called "intermittent reinforcement." Some students reinforced the hustlers' incentive to do this by handing over cash before going back to sleep.</p>

7

<p>bluedevilmike, your friends are smart!! haha, did they catch the sketchy dude?</p>

<p>You know, though I'm not going to Duke, it scares me that fellow undergraduate college students would steal stuff if you left it unattended.
I don't know, but if I found someone's Ipod misplaced, I'd really try to track down that person and give it back to em. I'm not some moral freak, but I've always assumed most people would do this. It scares me that there are fellow classmates who'll steal stuff.</p>

8

<p>Yep, they caught him, lollipop and all. And his backpack was filled with other people's stuff, all of which was returned.</p>

<p>Students have been moved out of Trent since that time.</p>

9

<p>I don't understand. I am a parent, and I can't can't get into a dorm unless a student who lives there lets me in with his/her card. How do random solicitors get in in the first place?</p>

10

<p>Some students let them in, evidently. I suppose staff (maintenance, etc) could also have let them in.</p>

<p>This never, ever happened to me or any of my friends. I suspect it may be a pretty rare occurrence.</p>

11

<p>Where is Trent located? I'm curious to know.</p>

12

<p>It's hard to explain if you're not familiar with Duke's campus. It's essentially between Central Campus and Duke North hospital. Grace's Cafe is there. It's a couple blocks' worth of walking (not that there are blocks on campus) away from apartments and such on Anderson.</p>

13

<p>Thanks for all the feedback, you guys, and yeah I agree that bluedevilmike's friends are pretty awesome! If you have any more info/anecdotes, definitely post. :)</p>