The main concern is identity theft and the loss of irreplaceable personal data. "Money just can't compensate losing photos," Neese says, "or losing financial information to an unknown person or persons."
This burglary is one of a number of high-profile laptop burglaries in the city over the fall, though the Madison Police Department is careful to note that they aren't all necessarily connected.
"We have seen a number of laptops stolen, particularly in the downtown area since this fall," says MPD spokesperson Mike Hanson. "They've been stolen in libraries, but mostly in peoples' residences through the suspect entering through a broken window, open window or unlocked door." Hanson issued a statement about these thefts on Nov. 14, noting 11 different electronics burglaries downtown during the first ten days of that month. "Additionally," the statement continued, "over 25 laptops have been stolen since September and that does not include reports that have not been entered yet into the records system."
Madison police made an arrest
Hanson also says that while the Dane County Sheriff's Department and the MPD have a joint unit that works on computer crimes, it investigates things like sex crimes and financial crimes operated through a computer: "The unit doesn't investigate stolen property unless it relates to the unit inside."
Neese has been trying to publicize the theft since learning of it early this morning, because he wants to increase public awareness about information security amid these ongoing laptop burglaries across the city.
