A City College faculty member thwarted the attempted theft of a $900 overhead projector Wednesday afternoon in room 228 of the Business Communications Building.
The suspect, who tore the projector from the ceiling before being interrupted by Bonnie Chavez, chair of the Business Department fled the room at 12:40 p.m., leaving the projector behind. The full extent of the damage is not known. A police report was filed and the Santa Barbara Police Department is investigating the incident.
Professor Daniel Wrentmore, who teaches in room BC 228 during the time of the incident, had left campus early, posting a “class cancelled” sign.
“Something caught my eye,” Chavez said. “Maybe there was a student in there who didn’t see the sign so I kind of glanced back. When I looked in, that’s when I saw this person standing on top of the desk, hand on the projector, tearing it down from the projector’s bracket.”
Chavez said he entered the room and confronted the man, but the suspect continued to rip the projector down until it was completely detached.
Chavez also said he told the man that there was no way the projector was going to leave the room.
The suspect then reportedly dropped the projector on a desk and bolted around Chavez, through the door, and out of the building.
Chavez immediately contacted campus security and an officer arrived five minutes after the call was received.
The suspect was described as a 20-year-old male, wearing sunglasses and having dark hair and an unshaven face. The man was said to be carrying a backpack and dressed in khaki shorts and a green shirt with white lettering.
He didn’t appear to be frightened when he was caught because he continued to pull off the projector, Chavez said.
Chavez added that the suspect wasn’t aggressive and didn’t try to assault him.
“He didn’t try and do anything to me, he didn’t even try to push me to the side when he left,” Chavez said.
The machine may be un-repairable because of a broken video jack and the holes that were torn into the machine during the incident.
The silver Hitachi projector is reportedly worth $900, said Santa Barbara Police Lieutenant Armando Martel.
Instructors say the loss of the projector will significantly impact the quality of their ability to teach effectively.
“A presentation takes a lot of time to prepare, especially if you are using technology like a DVD or PowerPoint,” said Dr. Arthur Olguin, professor of psychology. “These presentations generally are not just for one class and [now] several classes are interrupted. Teachers have to be more conscious of locking and securing their doors. Something like this is very disappointing to students and teachers.”
The incident adds to other projector thefts at City College.
There were a number of projectors stolen from classrooms five years ago, said Director of Security, Erick Fricke.
“Since then we’ve added security measures like the brackets,” he said. “The person had to rip it off the ceiling thus breaking the projector.
“When thefts like this occur it becomes a great disadvantage to the students in that class because now they just lost a tool that is used by their instructors to teach,” Fricke added.
“It may be several weeks before they can get a replacement and that’s the sad thing. It really affects the rest of the students in that class.”
Students said that they also suffer from the loss of the projector.
“This affects the students because it really changes how instructors teach their class,” Kyle Grgich a Kinesiology major said. “It’s too bad that someone would steal from the school.”
