How you can prevent theft at KTH
All around KTH, you will find new stickers next to card readers, urging you to keep track of who you let in past locked doors. Here you will get some tips on how to act and avoid being exposed for theft at KTH.
From 15 April, you will see stickers with a cartoon thief and a Swedish text encouraging you to ask who you let in behind locked doors at KTH’s premises. With the campaign, KTH's head of security Christina Boman, who is behind the initiative, hopes that KTH's students and employees will work together to help each other prevent theft.
– Towards spring, thievery is more common, which we notice by more police reports. For example, computers and telephones often disappear. I am keen for students to be able to keep their technology, which they have usually paid for themselves, says Christina Boman.
Opportunity makes the thief, and if things are left unattended, they are more likely to be stolen. One measure is to reduce the number of unauthorised persons in KTH's buildings. Often, unauthorised persons slip past when students and staff pass locked doors with their KTH cards.
The purpose of the stickers is for students and employees to ensure that locked doors are closed when passing, and to dare to ask if a person sneaking in behind is looking for someone or has the right to be in the room.
– The campaign is not about everyone at KTH becoming police officers at the door now, but be careful who you let in. Dare to ask about the person's errand if you are comfortable with it. If the situation feels strange, you can call KTH's security number, says Christina Boman.
Christina Boman's hope is that we at KTH will collectively get better at helping each other. In parallel with the campaign, the security department has set up so-called safety and security calendars around KTH. In the wall-hung calendar, you can get tips on how to help in various situations, for example, in the event of accidents or illness, fire, or if unauthorised people are staying on KTH’s premises.
– These calendars are everywhere at KTH and replace action plans that were otherwise tucked away in binders somewhere. Feel free to scroll through the calendars because they teach you how to act if various events occur.
Christina Boman has been responsible for similar campaigns at her previous workplaces Sweden's Television and Uppsala University. According to her, measuring the campaign effects is difficult, but in Uppsala, she noticed that the thief on the stickers became recognised by the students.
– The funniest was when the students had their reception, and the figure of the thief appeared, for example, on textile patches. The thief dared to ask about everything, and that is proof that the students took the figure to heart in some way, she says.