Administrative associate at campus’ DPS is the keeper of lost property.
By Kyle R. Cotton
kcotton11@student.alamo.edu
After the success of lowering reported crimes across the district by increasing their presence at the Alamo Colleges, the police department selected as its wildly important goal this year to increase their found-property-returned-to-owner rate from 31 to 33 percent by the end of the year.
The WIGs come from FranklinCovey’s “Four Disciplines of Execution,” which is an accountability system required of all district employees.
The most common crime across the district is the crime of opportunity (burglary and theft) that accounts for almost half of all reported crime, according to the 2015 Weekly Report.
Deputy Chief Joe Curiel said the police will return more property to their owners by expanding presence on social media, using the department website, calling those who label their belongings and sending, mass emails and fliers.
Curiel said the goal is only a 2 percent increase because most found property has no identifying marks.
“Each campus has an administrative associate responsible for the safekeeping and documenting of found property,” Curiel said. “Every week each of the administrative associates will have this WIG where their goal would be to achieve three different means of advertisement or communicate to try to inform the public or the owner of the property so we can increase that return rate.”
Curiel said the best way to prevent crime is for students to be aware of their own targets of opportunity, such as laptops, iPads, bicycles, backpacks and telephones.
Curiel said students at this college should be especially careful because the campus is more open compared to the other campuses, which are better defined and separated from the surrounding communities.
The best way to prevent crimes of opportunity is to refrain from leaving items unattended and increase basic awareness of an individual’s property and environment, Curiel said.
For more information, visit alamo.edu/district/police.
For more information on found property, contact the DPS office’s administrative associate at each campus through the non-emergency number, 210-485-0099.