Buried in Arlington’s proposed 2003 budget, surrounded by innocuous language about staffing, is the record of a theft.
In the proposed budget for the county’s Department of Technology Services, the department details changes in its budget for the next year, including higher telephone bills, lower payrolls and licensing fees.
Part of the savings has come from hiring an Internet Security Officer, a full-time employee ensuring that viruses don’t crash the county’s computer system. In addition, the budget says, the department has seen "decreases in misappropriation of physical assets."
That means theft, county spokesman Richard Bridges said, theft of county-owned laptop computers. The crimes are not significant drains on county resources, not out of a $378 million budget proposal.
But they are a sign of an ongoing problem in the county, police and Arlington activists say, one that affects offices around the county. The inclusion of the thefts in the budget is also the sign of a problem that’s been solved, Bridges said.
"We’ve been pro-active, making sure that a problem didn’t become a big problem," he said.
<b>Closing the Barn Door</b>
<bt>While no specific numbers were available, Bridges said that the county had lost few computers before hiring its security officer, David Jordan. He would not say whether any employees had been fired due to thefts – "I wouldn’t comment on any personnel matters," Bridges said – but thefts are "not that prevalent," he said.
Jordan inventoried county computers, so that the county could track where each one was. Arlington government is also beginning to use a program that scans all computers when they start up, which will help track computers when they go missing, Bridges said. "We will be able to monitor this better in the future," he said.
Jim Pebley, president of the Arlington Civic Federation, called the county’s effort "trying to close the gate before any more horses get out."
"I asked staff two years ago, how many computers are we losing when they walk out the door? They told me none, but I know we’ve lost three," Pebley said, including a laptop from the Department of Community Planning.
That changed when the county hired Chief Information Officer Jack Bilcher, Pebley said, and began tracking the computers that were supposed to be in county offices.
Still, he said, Arlington government losses were in keeping with a county-wide problem, Pebley said. "This is endemic to businesses and corporations."
<b>Stolen Computer Memories</b>
<bt>"Almost all of the thefts reported to us happen in businesses or commercial areas, like the lobby of a hotel," Thomas Panther said. "People get distracted, and the item ends up stolen."
Panther, the deputy chief of operations for the Arlington Police Department, said there are around 100 reports of stolen laptops each year across the county, "the vast majority from offices and public spaces."
The thieves are both strangers and office employees, he said. "There were some cases where it appears the theft had to have been internal," he said.
Media reports were filled last year with news of laptops stolen from the FBI. Not a problem for Arlington police, Panther said. "We have not lost any."
Panther said businesses and owners of personal computers should make sure they record the serial number of their computers, in case of theft. Police occasionally catch a thief, through surveillance, or when a stolen laptop is found for sale. But the success rate is not high, Panther said.
"Hardly anybody knows the serial number of their computer," he said, so it is difficult for police to find stolen computers. "If they know it, we can enter it into an FBI computer" that tracks sales nationwide.
Bridges, meanwhile, said there was a more pressing threat of theft in county offices.
"We have a bigger problem with people rifling through purses," he said. Bridges tells female county staffers to lock their purses in drawers, even if they’re only stepping away from their desk for a moment.
"It doesn’t take very long" to steal a wallet from a purse, he said.