Undercover security in Arts Centre and Library
Two phone thieves were arrested on Warwick Campus on 17 February, after a joint operation between Warwick Security and the West Midlands Police.
This investigation involved undercover security being stationed in the Library and Arts Centre cafes.
Cristian Vasile, aged 22, and Marcella Constantin, 21, admitted seven offences including thefts in the Dirty Duck and Warwick Medical School, and others in Coventry.
The thieves reportedly placed leaflets over victims’ phones, then engaged them in conversation before walking away with both leaflet and phone.
They were both sentenced to seven months imprisonment and ordered to pay a total of £1,769 in fines at Coventry Magistrates Court in February.
A request under the Freedom of Information Act by the Boar showed that the undercover operation ran from February 8-17, on seven separate days.
Thieves will now be aware of the potential presence of plain clothes officers and will be more reluctant to target us. For that to work they must never be sure when such officers are present.
Alexander Buxton, University Communications Manager
The Boar was told: “The University has deployed security staff in plain clothes for many years where the need has arisen and will continue to do so as necessary. The arrest and subsequent imprisonment of these offenders is a positive result for maintaining a safe and secure campus.”
Peter Dunn, Director of Press and Policy at the university, said “It will have been seen that the plain clothes operation did result in arrests. Therefore any other potential thieves will now be aware of the potential presence of plain clothes officers and will be more reluctant to target us. For that to work they must never be sure when such officers are present.”
When asked why students were not informed of the risk to their personal property, despite the university’s knowledge of the matter, University Communications Manager Alexander Buxton said: “We regularly remind students to protect their personal property from thieves”.
I reckon the risk was ultimately worth it
Joely Pritchett, second-year Modern Languages student
Mike Wrench, a third-year Classics student, said: “I suppose as long as it’s effective, I don’t really have anything to complain about. If they’d have screwed it up, then it would be a different matter.”
Joely Pritchett, a second-year Modern Languages student, said: “If security had told students, the operation might not have worked
“But if they hadn’t caught the thieves, people would have lost their phones forever, and obviously people have their whole lives on their phones. But I reckon the risk was ultimately worth it.”
Comments (2)
“Why does everything have to be potentially offensive?” is a pretty loaded question. I don’t think anyone slated 1984 in terms of ‘taking offence’ at the idea of strong government. The university operating undercover security operations is… weird, even if it has been a success here.
Many students were told about the risk – if you worked in the Dirty Duck (mainly students), they were told to tell anyone handing flyers out that it wasn’t allowed anymore because these events had gone on…