Derek Rodriguez spends some of his time at local textbook stores.
But the East Lansing police officer isn’t buying books, he is catching people selling stolen textbooks.
“Generally people are trying to sell back stolen books and say they are selling it for a friend,” he said. “More times than not the person is lying.”
People selling stolen textbooks is a problem area bookstores see too much of, said Greg Ballein, textbook manager of Student Book Store, 417 E. Grand River Ave.
Ballein said the store will be installing a camera system this spring to help deter stealing.
“You just can’t be everywhere at once,” he said. “(The cameras) would create a permanent record of what transpired.”
Student Book Store already has security measures in place, such as requiring customers to check their bags at the door.
It also has a technique for deciding if a book has been stolen.
“Sometimes it’s really obvious,” he said. “You look at the person selling the book and you know it’s not theirs.”
Rodriguez said when the police are called by a bookstore, the suspect is questioned about where the book was obtained, why it is being returned and why there is no receipt.
“Maybe the books the person is returning don’t match a curriculum or there are books missing from stock,” he said.
Rodriguez said while it is hard to prove if a book was stolen, the police department will still seek charges for possession of stolen property through the prosecutor’s office.
Rodriguez said people return stolen textbooks most often at the beginning and end of a semester.
Jerry Parr, textbook manager for Ned’s Book Store, 135 E. Grand River Ave., said the thefts seem to go in cycles.
“It seems to vary not by the time of year, but by the type of people we have around,” he said.
“We try to have good friendly customer service so people are approached and people are around keeping an eye on customers.”
Michele Stopchinski, a hospitality business junior, said when people steal textbooks it affects everyone.
“They should get better security like the alarms they have in the library,” she said.
Ye Yuan, a journalism graduate student, said in general people need to be taught that stealing is wrong.
“They need education and more legislative effort on the school and city’s part,” he said. “The student needs to be told right from wrong.”
