By Amanda Alfanos, Edtior-in-Chief
An unidentified male items stole five text books from the OCU Campus Store yesterday. The books had a value of about $760.
“Theft is a part of merchandising,” said Laura Warren, director of the store. “Sometimes kids steal candy in the summer during camps.
“But this is the first time someone has been so blatant about it.”
Police Reports
A student worker said the male entered the store, grabbed the books and ran west out of the lower level doors, said Laura Warren, director of the store. The work/study followed the suspect, who turned around and said “are you following me?” The worker returned to the store and notified OCU Police Department, Warren said.
Warren said she thinks another male scouted out which text books the suspect should steal on Oct. 29 at the store.
“We asked him for his class schedule,” she said. “He claimed the books were for his sister.
“We told him that we would be able to look up his schedule on a computer and he said he would rather go back to his room and do it.”
All on-duty OCUPD officers searched the campus and surrounding area with negative results. OCUPD was able to view the suspect from recording surveillance cameras, the police report said. Officers also passed the information on to all campus book stores in Oklahoma and Cleveland counties.
The suspect will probably attempt to sell the books at other universities, Warren said.
Warren said she advises students to never leave their textbooks unattended.
“We’ve had an increase in the number of textbooks that have been stolen out of students’ cars,” she said. “Even in the library, student’s shouldn’t leave their text books out in the open.”
Shayla Law, sociology senior, said she doesn’t have to pay for text books, because she’s a Clara Luper scholar.
“If someone stole my books I’d be pissed,” she said. “Just because text books are expensive doesn’t make theft right.”
Through the negatives of the theft, Warren said she sees a positive opportunity.
“We have a pretty cohesive plan about how we’re going to restructure the bookstore,” she said.
Warren declined to comment about specifics of restructuring, because has not spoken to her immediate supervisor, Dr. Rick Hall, vice president for student affairs, about the plans.
“I think he will agree with us,” she said, referring the the plans. “I think this will allow us to provide greater customer service than we’ve ever been able to provide before.”
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