Lost flash drives pile up

Every week at PUC many flash drives are left in campus computers or taken to the lost and found.

According to PUC Chief of Police Anthony Martin, individuals have ninety days to visit the lost and found to recover their missing items. In the case of missing flash drives, the owner must show some proof of ownership by providing some type of identification or some specific report that might be stored on the flash drive.

"Wow do we get a lot of flash drives," said Martin. "We receive approximately five to 10 flash drives per week. Once we get them, however, we try to open them up to find out who the owners are."

Martin said the department implemented a program called "OPERATION P.I.N." The program enables a student to bring their personal devices to the police station to register them by engraving a secret number into the metal of the individual's personal device. These devices may include flash drives, cell phones, iPods and several other portable devices.

 If the device becomes lost or stolen, the department can enter the secret number in a national database to aid in the recovery of the device. If the number is entered by any police agency nationwide, it would be understood that the item is stolen and speed up the recovery. Every time an item is recovered, it is posted on the "Lost and Found" webpage. This webpage can be found on the PUC website.

"Being a computer graphics major, I am always carrying some type of portable device," said Michael Martinez, a senior at PUC. "As soon as I heard about ‘OPERATION P.I.N.,' I thought that every computer graphics major should get this done."

If a lost item is found, it should be turned into one of four places; the information desk in SUL, the library, any business office on campus or the PUC Police Department. Any questions regarding the lost and found or the "OPERATION P.I.N." program, contact the PUC Police Department at 219-989-2221 for more information.