Alarms hidden inside random lockers on campus will be set off if locker thieves try to break in.

Melissa Murray / Ryersonian Staff

Locker thefts at Ryerson are on the rise, but security has a game plan to deter would-be thieves: they’ve booby-trapped lockers around campus.

Security is set to crack down on locker thieves by installing screamer alarms in random lockers around campus. Posters put up near locker areas advertise their presence, hinting that any locker could potentially be wired.

Security supervisor Imre Juurlink said she hopes thieves will see the posters and not even bother breaking into the lockers for fear of setting off an alarm.

“If they don’t see the posters, we’re hoping that having the alarm go off will scare the crap out of them,” she said.

The alarms are small devices mounted on the inside of the lockers. When a rigged locker is opened, the alarm will set off a steady, piercing scream.

The number of locker break-ins has increased over the years with 41 in 2007-08, 56 last year and already 48 this year. There were 11 last weekend alone in Kerr Hall — the hot spot for thefts — and the Podium building. 

Thieves made off with textbooks, an iPod Touch, Nike shoes and a gym bag, totalling $880.

First-year food and nutrition student Olivia Reddick said the alarms are a step in the right direction. She and her peers are well aware of theft at Ryerson.

“I don’t even bring my laptop to school,” she said. “I’ve heard people talk about being afraid to leave their laptops (in their lockers), so they bring them to our lab class instead.”

 But that line of thinking fits well with security’s message: it’s better for students to keep valuables with them at all times.

Students often don’t report thefts to security, Juurlink added, especially if reporting the theft is deemed a wasted effort. But every report, even a minor one, helps, she said, because the information is used to find patterns so security can stake out the area.

But finding patterns has proven difficult.

“Other than locations, the only thing we’ve really been able to establish is it’s happening without a pattern,” Juurlink said.

She said although there are hundreds of cameras throughout the school, monitoring certain locker areas in Kerr Hall poses a particular challenge to security.

But she hopes the new alarms will better protect those out-of-the-way areas.

Julia Lewis, director of the centre for environmental health, safety and security, wouldn’t reveal the price out of precaution but said the cost was well within security’s operating budget.