Sgt. Brown of the Carbondale Police Department said property inventory lists are a way to help police recover stolen items by brand name and serial number.

So many students are burglarized and they can never remember the brand names of the items stolen, we recover tons of stolen property but there is no sure way to return it without the serial number, Brown said.

The Carbondale Police Department uses a computer system called the National Crime Information Center. This computer system is nationwide, so an item stolen in Carbondale can be found anywhere in the country, according to Don Priddy, the Carbondale Police Department’s public relations Officer.

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David Kennedy, a philosophy major at SIUC and victim of burglary, said the inventory sheets may have helped him recover stolen property.

I had everything stolen out of my home, Kennedy said. The only thing that was recovered was my mountain bike and it was in bad shape. I think the inventory lists are a good idea so students can get their stolen property back.

Every year the Carbondale Police Department holds an auction of recovered stolen property that cannot be returned to the owners because the serial numbers were never recorded, Priddy said.

Brown said the Carbondale Police will loan out engravers to the public within the city limits to place a number, either a social security or a drivers license number, on jewelry so it can also be identified.

The Carbondale Police Department also offers free home security surveys for the public. Police officers will come into a home and tell residents ways to make their home safer and more secure.

We would like to encourage people to fill out the property inventory list and then put it in a safe place, Priddy said.

For more information about the inventory lists or the free home security survey contact the Carbondale Police Department at 457-3200.

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