More than $12,000 in electronics and personal items were stolen on campus between Sept. 3 and Oct. 3, according to OU Police reports.

While most of the thefts involved unattended items taken in the Bizzell Memorial Library, some cases of theft have occurred in Michael F. Price Hall, the Armory, the dorms and Traditions Square apartments.

“I was just unpacking my stuff from my trip home,” said Brooke Riley, political science and international and area studies sophomore. “I had taken a few things up to my apartment from my car, and then when I came back to grab my backpack, I noticed it was lighter than it was before.”

Riley said she put her laptop in her backpack at the beginning of the day, but when she picked it up that night to take it into her apartment, she noticed it was gone.

“It was very upsetting,” she said. “I usually am pretty trusting when I leave my stuff unattended for just a second.”

Many students have been put in the same position as Riley in the past month.

The first theft occurred Sept. 3 when a backpack containing a computer was left unattended in Bizzell, according to OUPD reports. The total value of the stolen backpack was $3,802, according to the reports.

That theft stood alone until multiple thefts occurred in Bizzell from Sept. 21 to Sept. 24 in which $2,568 worth of textbooks, backpacks and electronics, such as iPhones, were stolen, according to OUPD reports. The thefts resumed from Sept. 28 to Oct. 3, when an estimated $5,739 worth of computers, textbooks and personal items were stolen.

“Most of the items that were stolen were items that were left unattended either in a public place or in an unlocked car,” said Lt. Bruce Chan, OU Police Department spokesman.

Chan said people who own laptops should record the computer’s serial number and MAC address. He said the Media Access Control address helps police track down the location of the computer if it is used.

“We can track the MAC address if it is used on campus,” said Nick Key, OU Information Technology spokesman. “If we are given information from the OU Police, we have the ability to track a computer if it is being used on campus.”

Those methods helped OUPD find Riley’s laptop. She said she was told OU IT and OUPD found her computer when the suspect who stole her laptop used it on campus.

In two of the thefts, security video cameras recorded the suspects, and as a result, one was cited for petty larceny, according to OU Police reports. OUPD cited Matthew Sohkoh Burks, academic affairs senior, for petty larceny when they discovered a stolen backpack in his car during a traffic stop on campus. The backpack was returned to its owner, the OU Police report said. OUPD also found a juvenile in Adams Center with a wallet not belonging to the juvenile.

Chan said no one has been arrested for a majority of the thefts on campus, and anyone who is found to be guilty for the thefts is cited for petty larceny.