Donna doesn't call
herself kleptomaniac
Donna doesn't know what to call herself, but she said what she
is not - a kleptomaniac and a criminal.
Although she has stolen everything from expensive coats to
small grocery items, she said she doesn't feel a compulsive drive to
steal. To her, shoplifting is more of an art.
"People who go with me shopping don't know I've been
shoplifting until we leave the store. I've never been caught. How
can a store manager catch me when people walking beside me don't
even know I'm doing it?"
Donna said she began shoplifting when she was in junior -high
school. At that time, it was a game, she said, but she found out she
could do it better than anyone else.
"There's a sort of hipness associated with being good at ripping
off big department stores," she said. "Back then, it was sort of a
dubious way in the group I hung around with of getting status and
gaining acceptance."
Donna said she shoplifts by using a large shoulder bag with
many compartments. While" she is browsing through the store, she
said she slips items into her purse.
Donna pointed out other tricks of the trade.
. Shoplifters also slip items into big, bulky clothing and into coat
pockets, she said, take along a partner to divert a sales clerk or take
along packages with hidden compartments.
Donna said she doesn't feel guilty about stealing, although she
admitted that there is not room for many people like her in
society.
"Everytime I go into a place I wonder, 'What can I take today?'
There's a sort of challenge and some danger and risk involved. It
adds an excitement.
"Since I'm not rich, it's easy to rationalize taking the little
things that I do take against the huge profit markups of large
department stores."
Once again, Donna claimed she is not a kleptomaniac, which
Webster's Dictionary defines as a person who has an "irresistable
impulse to steal."
Theft from dormitories
tops$1 9,000 in1 974
By Nancy Stohs
UNL dormitories aren't exactly a hotbed of crime, but 460
larcenies and burglaries lasf year added up to $19,000 worth of
property stolen from students and staff.
Averaged out, that's about $3 per student resident. But in fact,
for some students it meant a $400 calculator or $1,000 stereo
system down the drain.
In addition to $19,000 in personal property, $8,815 of
University property was stolen from January to October, 1974.
November and December statistics aren't available.
The worst month was October, when $5,811 total property was
stolen. In July, the figure was lowest at $334.
There wee 420 larcenies, 40 burglaries and no robberies from
January through October, 1974. A burglary is theft with breaking
and entering, such as opening a closed door. Robbery includes the
element of fear, as induced by a verbal threat or visible weapon.
Conversion into ready cash is the usual motive behind campus
thefts, University Police Lt. Robert Edmunds said. Few items are
stolen for personal use, he said.
A good example is the pocket calculator. Used by many
students in science or math-related fields, they can bring
$300-$400 easily when sold, Edmunds said. Stereo systems can be
worth $1,000 or more.
8-1 ratio
Edmunds said police frequently locate stolen items in local
pawn shops.
Unfortunately, in only about 15-20 per cent of all reported
thefts is the thief caught or the items recovered, Edmunds said.
One problem is that both UNL campuses are surrounded by the
city, he said. In 1973, approximately 8 persons not associated with
NU were arrested for theft for every one person associated with
NU.
In other words, it's usually not the student that steals from the
student.
Edmunds said many that are arrested are responsible for thefts
in other places. Last week, a person arrested for trespassing in a
UNL dormitory was found with credit cards he had taken from a
student in Boulder the nrght before.
Thefts evenly distributed
Often, as every new resident is warned on arrival, strangers will
wander down halls, trying doors to see if they're locked, Edmunds
said.
A survey in 1973 showed 85 per cent of all dormitory thefts
occurred in rooms that were left unlocked "for only a second."
Theft is fairly evenly distributed amont campus living units,
Edmunds said, excluding sororities and fraternities. The latter, as
privately-owned corporations, are under Lincoln Police protection,
he said.
Harper, Schramm and Smith, interconnected by underground
tunnel, probably have more theft than other halls, Edmunds said.
Cather-Pound complex seems to suffer least from it, he said.
He said, University Police haven't noticed an increase in stealing
as a result of open visitation hours.
Lockers susceptibel
Another common site for theft is the lockers in the men's and
women's physical education buildings, he said.
Among common items taken from dorm rooms are billfolds and
purses, jewelry, clothing, tape recorders and loose cash.
Campuswide, bicycles thefts continue to be a problem, he said.
page 10
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daily nebraskan
Wednesday, february 19, 1975