On August 27th and 28th, six Marquette students discovered their backpacks had been stolen from Sweenyís College Books during a busy time when most of the bookstoreís staff was behind the counter. Upon entering, students are required to leave their bags at the door to prevent someone from stealing the $100+ textbooks inside. Sweenyís forgot to heed, however, the possibility that a brand new North Face backpack may be more desirable to the Marquette community than a Physics 400 textbook. Total loss of studentís possessions: $896.

     At the Book Marq, the other bookstore on campus, a public safety officer is stationed at the front of the store to make sure that bags donít enter. A security monitor also beeps when something leaves the store that hasnít been scanned. This may protect the owners from theft, but its there anything that beeps when a bag leaves the store on the shoulders of a different student? Does the Book Marq think that the presence of an officer is enough to scare away backpack thieves? Or have they even considered the possibility?

Does the Book Marq think that the presence of an officer is enough to scare away backpack theives?

     Because Sweenyís is a private business, Marquette canít provide such ësecurity.í Rebecca Lazzoroni- a student whose checkbook and social security card were stolen along with her backpack from Sweenyís- said she lost her ìsense of security.î Rebeccaís suggestion to prevent the problem from happening again was to have someone watch the backpack area more closely. Great idea Rebecca, except that nobody, including DPS, is trained to memorize whose backpack is whose and to know when it leaves in the wrong hands. For all we know, the owner, Ed Sweeny, couldíve stolen the backpacks in the hopes of reselling the books inside them as ìUSED.î

     Why is it that Sweenyís has the authority to tell students to ëde-pack?í Should we expect all private businesses to protect our thingsóespecially if they tell us to ìleave our bags at the door?î Granted Ed Sweeny is justified in his concern over theft, but there are thousands of stores without security alarms that canít make such a request and who still allow customers to browse without requiring them to hand over credit cards, keys, wallets, purses, makeup, books and bags.

     ìPutting backpacks on the tables provide the most security for students who bring their backpacks but arenít allowed to carry them about the store,î Sweeny said. Doesnít he really mean that leaving bags at the front of the store provide the most security for him? Sweeny suggests that, ìeveryone should have a greater awareness of security issues, particularly to be conscientious of book theft.î Ed Sweeny doesnít get it. Shouldnít he mean a greater awareness of our personal belongings (i.e.: backpacks)? Students donít really need to be conscientious of his books. The problem wasnít ëbook theftsí it was backpack thefts. But thanks Ed for the plug.
 

    Lt. Micheal McNiel, DPS preventative services coordinator, believes that ìthe largest incident of crime (on campus) is simple theft. Those are the kinds of problems that students can control by not leaving their property unsecured and unattended.î Has he failed to remember that although college students may try to exercise common sense in an alley, theyíre still going to do whatever ëauthorityí tells them to do?
 So if a sign says, ìLeave bags at the doorî we still fail to read the fine print- ìpossibility of theft, remove all valuables.î After all, weíre only sheltered kids in a big scary city and apparently we still need someone to hold our hand, to tell us not to trust people or a sign asking for our bags.