locker break in

[medNoir]

My locker was broken into this morning
I put my bag (black canvas with leather trim) in my locker as usuall at midnight. Today I came in to find the steel loop was broken off the locker door. My bag was gone. I filed a report with the campus security office, then got assigned a new locker and bought a replacement lock at the bookstore.

All the handouts from class was in my bag, but those can be reprinted.
The rest of the bags contents were similary replaceable, like: medical dictionary, stationery, flashlight, calculator.
But there were some irreplaceable things like my hand-held battery fan which kept me cool in hot classrooms. There are none like it for sale in Portsmouth. I also lost my precious bottle of tabasco hot sauce. The only hot sauce brand available in Dominica is Bello. Some kind of monopoly. I also lost a pair of decent headphones, compliments of American Airlines. I took them after they made me pay $5 to watch their inflight movie.

On a more serious note, the bag also contained my registration packet, which included my report card and other official documents, including my healtfh insuurance[1] card. These are also replaceable, but I'm alittle worried what a savvy identity thief could do with the information.

The good news is that my most precious items, a very rare and popular text book and my deck of index cards was in a classroom overnight where I am squatting. If those were lost, I would have been really upset.

And finaly, covering my bag flap was a black bandana with the image of a pirate flag. It was to represent that I was on a "Great Adventure", in that no matter what happened, it was ok because I was on a "Great Adventure".


[1] I purposely misspelled healpth insrance so it doesn't trigger some kind of auto marketing link on valuemd

[link626]

i hope there are not break ins like this at the apartments.... cuz i plan on leaving everything at home.

[oc23]

sorry about your locker, mednoir. i don't know what's worse--that another student walking among us everyday might have done it, or that maybe some local thieves can get in and break in to our lockers at night.

my locker was also broken into two semesters ago. fortunately, i didn't have anything in it that night. ...i left my medical bag in my locker last night. i remembered it right when i got home but got too lazy to go back to campus to get it. i would've been very upset to have lost that.

i've heard of a few students' apartments broken into, but i don't think it happens a lot. and those that do happen are relatively minor. mostly screens being slashed and the thief just reaches in and grabs whatever is reachable from the window.

as long as you get an apartment that has window bars, lock your doors, and keep valuables away from the windows, you should be ok.

[discombobulase]

You carry tobasco in your bag ?

[jujubean]

i hope there are not break ins like this at the apartments.... cuz i plan on leaving everything at home.

Our apartment gotten broken into. So did our neighbor's. Fortuntately, we didn't have anything of value in the apartment at the time. But my neighbor lost everything. :roll:

[SummerB215]

Where is your locker located? I am very worried now and sorry to hear about it.


Summer

[medNoir]

Locker breakins happen regularly here.
It doesn't take much to get into a locker.
Just slip a long metal pole into the latch assembly and lever it.

I guess it's like a flat tire. It was just my turn.

It did not help that I had a bright yellow lock(attention getting),
that my locker was unusually large (people wonder whats inside)
and that it was on the bottom level (easier to work unnoticed)

My new locker is on the top level,
medium sized and my new lock looks just like everybody elses.

The event must have happened between midnight and dawn.
The second day of 24hour library operation even.

[discombobulase]

You mean those portable battery operated electric fans ? I'm finding it hard to believe that such things are not abundantly for sale on an island in the carribean just a stone's throw from the equator. I'm surprised they aren't more common than dictation recorders. Especially since airconditioning is either unreliable, or non existant. What do 3rds and 4ths take with them to the hospitals ?

[CountMacula]

You mean those portable battery operated electric fans ? I'm finding it hard to believe that such things are not abundantly for sale on an island in the carribean just a stone's throw from the equator.

Dominica is an economic twilight zone.
The bookstore is an economic sociopath.

[archon218]

Be a good idea to keep ur laptop with u at all times.

[missa]

Sorry to hear you lost your personal items. But, why do you keep tobasco sauce in your bag? I'm just wondering...

I used to complain about my old college having super tight security - they have cameras everywhere, and they can see everything that every student does - and we couldn't help but hate it - but once someone stole a kid's wallet from his bag, in less than an hour, they caught up with him...great service eh?

Do you have those security cameras installed in your university? I know in some places, there's cameras here and there but no one monitors it and sometimes its not even working.

Anyways...I'm rambling. Hope you get some of your stuff back. if you're lucky, you might just stumble upon them...like I did when someone stole my bag...I found some of my belongings behind the school building a week later.

[singer]

Medoir:

Sorry about your loss. Again I am a parent not a student and work in New York. We have had four petty cash thefts totallying $1500, one laptop stolen and $100 in movie tickets tolen within the last 2 months. SOme of our brilliant top staff forgot to close the safes . One person actually left the key and combination to a safe in an unlocked top drawer of his desk.

Thefts hapen all over. Do like my son does at Ross. Keep only dirty, smelly gym clothes in the locker and even if someone breaks in they will run away from the smell. Seriously, I saw the lockers when I was in Dominica and being made of wood it is very easy to pry open.

You always wonder what the Ross security people are doing when this happens?

[BlueLabel]

You always wonder what the Ross security people are doing when this happens?


Well...after smoking a big fat spliff (aka doobie) they usually play cricket or dominoes

[medNoir]

Yes, I like tabasco
http://tabasco.com/tabasco_tent/pepper_sauce/red_pepper_sauce.cfm
I've kept a bottle in my bag to use during lunch time and evenings at the shacks.

The Bella hot sauce monopoly in Dominica is ok and will do in a pinch. But I'm used to the flavor of tabasco which means I don't notice that there is a flavor, it doesn't get in the way of the food. Bella, which I'm sure has a very nice flavor, is just ... different. So I notice it. Makes sense ?

I had two bottles of tabasco sent to me in 2nd semester. I'll now have a few more sent.

I've spent the last several hours rebuilding my notes,
thanks to friend's lending me their print quotas.
Actually this exercise is turning out to be a good review,
2 days before the mini.

=========================
On a Great Adventure
http://www.kipar.org/society/author/pirates-history/flags/rack_ham.jpg

[obadya00]

singer
theft does happen all of the time in the world
but in my little world and many of the world's we used to live in
theft didn't happen that often. i know of four buglaries excluding my own and three attempted breakins (while the students were at home)
and no it isn't just glanvillia, it is picard as well. these aren't even one's i have "heard" of, these have occured to my classmates. it is bizarre.
so safety and burglary is a big issue here. don't keep valuables at home/locker. hide your laptop if you keep it at home. most importantly, lock your deadbolt at all times because the people here are masters at picking the bottom lock. never i mean never keep your door unlock and go to your next door neighbor's house for a second, might get buglarized(happened to a friend of mine). They are always watching the students. it is weird to believe but it is better being a little paranoid on the island.

[Doc Holiday]

Security on campus is a total joke. Dominicans are for the most part allowed to walk on and off campus unchecked. The fence around the front of the schools property was absent for months. There was no security patrolling that area at all. Instead all security was directed at the gates making sure to give every student a hard time about having their ID's at the ready. I've seen many students hassled unnecessarily for having forgotten their ID's and often turned away. At the same time, Dominican construction workers just hopped over the short wall (where the fence is now) completely unchecked. Also all the Dominican faculty at the school to include housekeepers are never asked for their ID's.

There are of course days where security is so strict about ID checks that they make people stop so that they can closely examine the cards to make sure that the picture on the card matches the person carrying it. Other days the security guards can be found either asleep at the post or down by the shacks hitting on some of the local women. I digress.

[oc23]

Security on campus is a total joke. Dominicans are for the most part allowed to walk on and off campus unchecked. The fence around the front of the schools property was absent for months. There was no security patrolling that area at all. Instead all security was directed at the gates making sure to give every student a hard time about having their ID's at the ready. I've seen many students hassled unnecessarily for having forgotten their ID's and often turned away. At the same time, Dominican construction workers just hopped over the short wall (where the fence is now) completely unchecked. Also all the Dominican faculty at the school to include housekeepers are never asked for their ID's.

There are of course days where security is so strict about ID checks that they make people stop so that they can closely examine the cards to make sure that the picture on the card matches the person carrying it. Other days the security guards can be found either asleep at the post or down by the shacks hitting on some of the local women. I digress.

when my husband was here a few months back and we went to the shacks to get some lunch, the security guard waited until we got down to there and then followed us and tried to confiscate my husband's visitor's pass. he said visitors aren't supposed to go out through the shacks and, if they do, their id's are supposed to be taken from them and they shouldn't be let back in. i got so pissed off i almost yelled at the security guard. sure he's just doing his job, but he actually watched us walk down the stairs, waited 'til we were at the shacks, AND THEN he confiscated his pass! @#%*!!!!!!!!!!

[Doc Holiday]

Funny thing about that. There are lots of visitors to campus with lots of visitor's passes. This includes visiting facutly. Visiting professors eat at the shacks just like everybody else and walk in and out of that gate just like everybody else. They are never given a hard time. Can you imagine the hell that would have to be paid if they did.

The fact of the matter is that common sense is lost on Dominican faculty on campus. They do what they are told and any independant thinking on their part would be too much of a stretch from their normal job description. This is why they monitor the gates so tightly and completely ignore the fenceless perimeter.

[discombobulase]

Ever been inside the security office while the guards are there ? It's like a sitcom where each guard has his own personality, mannerisms, witty banter . Think of Police Academy, Super Troopers, Reno911, or if you watch BBC: Thin Blue Line with Rowan Atkinson.

Follow the zany misadventures of a clump of small town guys who are just trying to get by as they deal with overbearing administrators, bratty students and wacky towns people !

[discombobulase]

wait a minute,
How is it that when I asked about tabasco, mednoir ignores me. But when someone with a pretty face on her avatar asks, he writes a full description complete with URL links ?
Explain yourself!

[KlooverButchy]

wait a minute,
How is it that when I asked about tabasco, mednoir ignores me. But when someone with a pretty face on her avatar asks, he writes a full description complete with URL links ?
Explain yourself!

jungle fever

[medNoir]

I got a hand-written copy of my report from the security office today.

I didn't expect filing a report would help solve my situation in anyway. I did it to make sure that Ross would not be able to declare a "Zero Crime Rate" like they do year after year.
Despite at least one assault per semester and multiple break ins, those all happened off campus grounds, allowing Ross a perfect crime record.
At least THIS year, there is AT LEAST ONE.


Explain yourself!

I thought your first post was just in jest and you didn't seriously ask. The other person's post looked like a real question.

[oc23]

wait a minute,
How is it that when I asked about tabasco, mednoir ignores me. But when someone with a pretty face on her avatar asks, he writes a full description complete with URL links ?
Explain yourself!

I thought your first post was just in jest and you didn't seriously ask. The other person's post looked like a real question.

...plus you're a skinny, leaky IV post. :D