Sophomore Annya Dahmani says that to ramp up school security, security cameras should be installed.
On April 27, I had my school-issued laptop stolen from the music room during a night-time band performance.
So how did this happen exactly?
The room had been left unlocked with all of my stuff inside, including my phone, money, laptop and backpack, along with the belongings of my sister Katia and senior Sydney Michel.
They had their laptops stolen as well.
Obviously, this event could have been avoided if the room had been locked in the first place.
The music room was left unlocked in order for the musicians to be able to go in and out of the room without having to get keys from someone.
And in the unlocked room our belongings sat there on the ground, easily accessible for anyone to take.
But maybe if we had cameras around campus, we could have identified the person who walked in and grabbed the computers.
Here’s the thing: I’m not the only person who has experienced this firsthand.
There has been lots of crime on campus, varying from the occasional stolen TI-89 calculators to electric guitars from the music room to a van in the parking lot.
On Dec. 29 foreman Sailendra Singh noticed one of the three school vans normally kept in the parking lot was missing.
Eight days later, Jay Holman, director of the physical plant, reported the theft to the California Highway Patrol.
That same night, the CHP notified Holman, saying that they had found the van at the California Fitness Center.
Not only school property has been stolen, but many students have experienced this first-hand thievery.
An example is sophomore Harkirat Lally.
Lally had his lacrosse equipment stolen when he left it overnight by his locker.
“I think it would be a great idea if we had cameras,” he said. “I completely support the idea. Right now our campus is so open, and anyone can easily walk in and out without anyone knowing.”
Even worse, the school has been vandalized before. That’s something that a lock or two wouldn’t fix.
On Oct. 27, vandals graffitied initials on a few walls after stealing orchestra teacher Felecia Keys’s monitor.
And let’s not forget about the devastating vandalism of the garden that occurred in late April of 2013.
Two rose arbors were broken, as well as a birdbath. The fences and signs were all smashed.
When will we stop these thieves (or thief) from stealing our possessions?
They’ve already stolen $500 worth of copper wire (on Jan. 20, 2014), a school van, multiple purses, wallets, musical and sports equipment, as well as teacher and student laptops.
If we had cameras around campus, the school could have caught these individuals, or at least seen what they looked like and given that information to the police.
On college campuses there are cameras everywhere.
Cameras like theirs could help identify who is stealing items from our campus and who is committing these acts of vandalism.
—By Annya Dahmani
