As with other parts of this book, this section is not intended to be a definitive guide. Before doing anything you should:

·        make sure that your inventory is up-to-date – see the section on stock-checking in Chapter 5;

·        find out your school or college’s policy in this area, such as whether there is a rule that every new item of equipment has to be security marked in a particular way;

·        discuss security with the caretaker or site supervisor;

·        if relevant, find out if the LEA has a recommended policy;

·        with permission from the Head or Principal, seek the advice of the LEA security officer or the local police force’s crime prevention unit.

There are a number of physical measures you can take to prevent theft of equipment. For example, you can:

·        bolt all computers and printers to the work tops;

·        secure equipment with cables, which is usually less costly and time-consuming than bolting everything down, but possibly not quite as effective in acting as a deterrent or slowing a thief down;

·        install alarms, either on each item or in the rooms as a whole – this is obviously a much more expensive option;

·        secure all mice and keyboards with cable ties, making it harder for someone to steal them quickly, such as at the end of a lesson;

·        mouse balls can be expensive to replace, especially en masse, so either glue the mouse ball “door” (which makes mouse cleaning hard) or remove the mouse ball after use (which can be done quite easily by teachers in charge of rooms where there are only one or two computers)[i];

·        security mark each item with a special marker whose writing only shows up under ultra-violet light – the usual recommendation is to write the school or college postcode;

·        write the school or college postcode, and other details such as the computer’s number, on the equipment with an indelible spirit marker;

·        as a variation of the previous suggestion, deface the equipment –this involves making the equipment virtually completely unsaleable, such as by writing or engraving the institution's name in a prominent place (or by asking art students to paint or stencil on the equipment);

·        make sure doors and windows are kept locked, particularly in out-of-the-way offices, and especially in places where there is easy access to the street or car park;

·        erect notices to the effect that all equipment is security marked.

Many of these approaches are not mutually exclusive. For example, you could bolt the equipment down, mark it with a special marker and mark it with a spirit marker.

As is always the case, you will not stop a determined thief. You can, however, make it as hard as possible for people to steal the equipment in the first place, and then to sell it on. Also, the measures outlined above will certainly do much to help prevent opportunist theft.

If equipment is distributed around the school or college, all teachers should follow the same security guidelines.

Find out if you are expected to pay for security measures out of your capitation. There is a case for saying it is a whole school or policy matter, especially if computers distributed around the site.

Responding to a break-in

If the worst happens and you suffer a break-in and theft of computer equipment, you will need to carry out a certain procedure. What this exact procedure is will depend on your school or college – find out from the caretaker or the secretary what you are supposed to do, and make sure other staff know as well.

Generally speaking, the procedure will be something like this:

1.      Do not touch anything, especially door and window handles, in case the police want to dust for fingerprints.

2.      Put a notice up telling others not to touch anything.

3.      Call the caretaker, or the secretary, who will call the police, or call the police yourself if there is nobody else available.

4.      Make a list of the equipment stolen. For each item, note the type of equipment, name of the model, distinguishing marks (such as the postcode engraved on it) and serial number (which should be recorded in your stock book).

5.      Make a note of the date and time of the theft, or when you discovered it.

6.      Obtain a crime reference number from the police, possibly via the caretaker.

7.      Inform the Head or Principal.

8.      Put in an insurance claim.

Note the following points about claiming on your insurance:

·        insurance policies typically cover break-ins, not walk-in thefts – but it may be worth putting a claim in anyway;

·        your insurance policy will probably include a clause about claiming within a certain period of time, such as within 2 working weeks of the theft;

·        when claiming, bear in mind that you should be looking to replace equipment for the same purpose, not necessarily at the same value. For example, you may have been using an old computer for computer control activities. That model of computer may not be worth very much, and may even be no longer available. If the only way you can replace it is by purchasing a more modern computer with a higher value, your insurance policy ought to be able to allow you to do so. Clearly, this is something you will want to check out before you actually need to know.