Episode Transcript
Speaker 0 00:00:01 At around 5:00 PM, Monday, October 25th, Northwestern police responded to a report of 4,500 stolen COVID test kits for foster Walker complex. This is the sound of foster Walker at 5:00 PM. A few people walk through the doors every minute or so. How could someone walk away with 4,500 COVID test kits?
Speaker 1 00:00:24 Someone said, I want to get my laundry the other day. And notice they left the doors to a couple of storage rooms, open the room. I walked past, had a ton of IMAX. I'm surprised I didn't steal those. If there are opportunities
Speaker 0 00:00:36 That was Xavier's Zamora, I'm McCormick, senior and foster Walker, resident reading a text from the buildings group. Me,
Speaker 1 00:00:44 Just stop for there to steal. I just kind of weird that they leave because it's really valuable. Since itself,
Speaker 0 00:00:49 I spoke to Zamora and other students in foster Walker's basement. The scene of the crime. When you entered your foster Walker, several doors, you see a couch and a few blue armchairs. Sometimes if people sitting on them on your right, there's the entrance, the dining hall on your left, there are stairs to enter the package center, which serves 18 dorms around campus. Right? If the package center is a mail room for students from three different dorms, pick up their ladders, there's also the laundry room and piano. Then if you go a little further, there's a long hallway foster Walker's basement walls are made of white cinder block. The pipes on the ceiling that are brown doors, every couple of thousand feet labeled in big black bold letters. Some doors are stamped as a janitor closet, elevator machine room, electrical machine room, telecommunications room, or as an office, two doors were labeled as supply closets. Another door had a sign saying only authorized staff were allowed inside through the door window. You could see a fridge and some cabinets students pass through this hallway every few minutes on their way to an elevator that takes them from the basement to their residential. For anyone trying to access the package center does not need wildcard access. That includes outsiders who aren't connected to Northwestern.
Speaker 1 00:02:10 I really care that much. It will. You know, I just think like nothing's happened so far. Like God forbid someone would try and walk in here and, you know, do something like, I don't know, you know, it is a little concerning that just like people can walk in
Speaker 0 00:02:26 Henry Michaelson, a sophomore and McCormick lives in foster Walker.
Speaker 1 00:02:30 I was kind of concerned a little bit because I was like pockets of, and possibly sneak out 4,500 codes. That's out of here without anybody noticing. But like, I didn't, I honestly didn't think that much of it
Speaker 0 00:02:43 Northwestern uses by next. Now COVID 19 antigen self test kits. Each box has two tasks. One kit takes about 52 cubic inches in space and easily fits into a drawer. But 4,500 COVID test kits amount to 136 cubic, according to environmental protection agency guidelines. That's the size of a large car. The university police daily blotter posts additional information about crimes on campus, including the type of incident when it was reported. And when the crime occurred, the blotter lists two dates. The first date and time being when the crime could have begun. And the last state in time being when it could have ended for the robbery from foster Walker, the bladder's first date is September 9th at 1:00 PM. And the last date is October 22nd at 10:30 AM. Someone reported the missing COVID tests on October 25th at 5:11 PM, three days after the last potential day of the crime, as indicated in the blotter. It's unclear if the crime occurred over a period of time, or if the tests were stolen all at once on a day in between September 9th and October 22nd,
Speaker 1 00:03:48 I was very confused by the whole thing. Like, why would somebody want that? But I, you know, some people said like, maybe they wanted to sell it or something. I don't think that like, it didn't really make sense to hell that much, honestly,
Speaker 0 00:04:01 Uh, Northwestern official didn't respond to an email asking how much the university spends on each COVID test kit, but CVS sells them at their Sherman avenue location and online for 2399, if each of the 4,500 COVID tests holds that value, the university was robbed of 100, $7,995 worth of property before tax Courtney, Rick Kerr, a junior in the school of education and social policy also lives in Plex.
Speaker 2 00:04:30 Initial reaction was like, oh, people probably just sold them either to sell them on eBay or something.
Speaker 0 00:04:36 E-bay takes down listings of at-home COVID test kits, but other sites allow them. And May, 2020 police arrested a California woman for allegedly selling fake test kits on Craigslist,
Speaker 1 00:04:47 Like of all things to steal those things that like universally, we all agree. We really need those.
Speaker 0 00:04:52 The crime report came in a week where the university required undergraduates with last names, Arthur Z to receive an onsite COVID tests at the Jacobs center. The week before the university required students with last names J through Q to test the week before that it was students with last names, a through I vice president for operations, Luke Vergara said in an email to WMUR that the burglary did not impact testing operations on campus and quote, anyone looking to test was able to do so and quote, however, students looking to pick up at home test kits are currently limited to taking one at a time before students could take three per week, all in one visit. It's unclear why the amount changed. Northwestern police issued an update the next day, Tuesday, October 26, saying they identified multiple suspects. All of whom are Northwestern students and recovered quote, most of the stolen property and quote university spokesperson. John Yates declined to comment on how many suspects and UPD identified or the quality of the recovered COVID tests.
Speaker 1 00:05:53 People steal stuff all the time. So I figured going to be stolen. It'd be like computers or like tech appointment, the Cova test. It's like that doesn't make sense
Speaker 0 00:06:02 Besides possibly having a motive to resell the tasks. The burglary fits into a growing trend across middle schools, high schools and colleges nationwide
Speaker 3 00:06:11 Just last month that a theme went viral on the social media platform. Tick-tock leading to widespread damage in schools across the country, known as the devious licks challenge trend going
Speaker 0 00:06:24 Viral on Tik TOK
Speaker 4 00:06:26 Influencing by now, some schools are changing how and when students can use the restroom all because of a Tik TOK challenge that your kids may have heard about it's called devious licks. And basically it encourages kids to break or steal stuff at school.
Speaker 0 00:06:39 The trends spread through tick talk users, post videos to this sound, stealing items, most commonly supplies like soap dispensers or toilet paper, or document the remanence of their school restroom. After a so-called devious, lik the motive of whoever stole Northwestern's COVID tests remains unclear,
Speaker 1 00:06:58 Really scummy thing to do as a seal COVID tests. So like the punishment should be severe. Like it, it shouldn't be like a little slap on the wrist. Like
Speaker 0 00:07:06 Yates declined to comment on F or how the university will punish the burglars or burglar. If only one of the suspects is found guilty, but Northwestern student handbook includes a section on disciplinary sanctions for individuals consequences range from university warning, where students are notified about their misconduct to conduct review disciplinary probation, suspension, degree revocation, expulsion, fines, loss, or restriction of privileges or activities, restrictions on access or contact or financial restitution where students provide monetary compensation for taken misused damaged or destroyed property or services. Again, if the tests are evaluated at the CVS price of 2399, whoever sold the test took $107,995 worth of property before tax the robbery made some more, uh, more aware of his surroundings.
Speaker 1 00:07:58 That's kind of bad that this happened in the dorm. Like for all we know, like the person who stole them could have been like one of our roommates or something. We walked by when doing the laundry. Like, so I guess now there is a little bit of feeling of unsafeness
Speaker 0 00:08:13 From WMUR news. I'm Madison Bradley.
