Thieves steal primary school’s computers
Thieves have stolen nine laptops from a Palmerston North primary school targeted in a spate of breakins.
Police were called to Takaro School, on Brighton Cres, at 5pm on Sunday.
The thieves broke into the school’s dental office and initial reports suggested they were interrupted as they tried to steal laptops and Chromebooks.
School principal Helena Baker said it wasn’t until Monday morning that staff discovered eight Chromebooks and another laptop had been stolen.
Baker said the school had been vandalised in the school holidays and a classroom was smashed in an attempted break-in.
‘‘That was barely two weeks ago and now we have had this happen.’’
This time, the thieves managed to get inside to steal the computers.
‘‘Our kids actually miss out and that’s the [reality] of it.’’
Baker said it wasn’t worth claiming on the school’s insurance.
She was hoping people might help the school track down the stolen items, as has happened previously.
The school bought the Chromebooks through funding, which Baker said she would need to apply for again to buy replacement computers.
All the stolen items were branded with the Takaro School name and Baker said they were useless to anyone trying to use them as they were set up on the school system. She urged the thieves to bring the computers back.
A police spokeswoman said it was not clear what disturbed the thieves, but other computers and tablets had been moved and they left before police arrived.
No arrests have been made and police were still waiting on the results from the fingerprinting and crime scene tests on Sunday.