Skip to main content Skip to navigation

Pens - the latest effort to combat campus crime.

Pens
Originally Published 10 May 2004

Student bank accounts may be famously low, but it is the neat observation of the thief that, amongst students, high tech gadgets are plentiful and carelessness is rife.

It is also the funny misconception of students that the laptop per person and lifetime CD collections are safe in an unlocked room in a residential hall of 450 people with doors that will inevitably invite the odd stranger.

Warwick students are generally even more blazé about crime than their city university counterparts: why would anyone unlawful want to hang around on such a pretty campus that is miles from anywhere? And the answer is just that - hit the unsuspecting.

True, Warwick is better off than most universities, but that is a lot to do with the fact that the University will not stand back to allow invasion.

Coventry City Council has teamed up with Warwick Security to enforce tougher obstacles for criminals across campus. Resident Wardens will soon be given etching pens that will be available to any students wishing to protect their property. The pens work electronically to invisibly imprint postcodes onto items such as laptops and Hi-fi's.

This is the latest effort to combat campus crime, following in the wake of precautions such as the emergency phone points and personal panic alarms. The pens are a preventative measure that ward off criminals with an automatic lack of anonymity on the items - a slight problem when it comes to selling stolen goods!

At the moment the pens will be available for campus residents, but the Students' Union are giving away free a range of devices to any student, member of staff, or visitor. The Union has a huge stock of pens, several types of rape alarm, as well as alarms that are attachable to doors and windows. These are available at request from Union North reception.