Register Your Notebook For a Quick Recovery

We haven't had our house burglarized in years. It stopped just about the time I started working from a home office.

That hasn't stopped me from worrying -- and taking steps to safeguard our possessions. In fact, I wrote a column -- "Notebook Thieves? Bring Them On!" -- about preventing theft last year. And James Martin talked about insuring your computer equipment in his newsletter. Theft and loss are big deals. According to a report from Safeware Insurance, there were more than 600,000 laptops stolen in 2003. That’s over 1,600 stolen every day

Happy Holidays
My guess is the threat increases during the holiday season given that many homes have, well, more possessions. It may sound extreme, or - gosh -even time-consuming, but you might consider taking an inventory of everything of value that's in your house.

The concept makes sense. But you can take it a step further, and register the serial number, brand and model, and other identification (preferably a photo of the product) with a reputable Web site. If the product's stolen (or lost), and then recovered, law enforcement agencies or insurance companies can check the site's database. If your product's registered, your chances of getting your property back increase.

Most people file a police report, with a thorough description of their property, but unfortunately, it's often missing serial numbers. If that happens to, say, your laptop, it could sit in a police evidence room until it's sold at a police auction. And according to the F.B.I., only 2 percent of all stolen property is ever recovered.

Is It Just Stolen?
I talked to Tom Shea, a police officer with the Brookline, Massachusetts Police Department, about his Juststolen site. JustStolen lets you add the make, model, serial number, description, and an optional photo of a product in any one of 25 categories. "We want to make it easy to get the data into our database," said Shea. And at no cost, to boot.

You can register an unlimited number of items on the site; law enforcement agencies also get free access to the database. If a police agency finds an item, they check the site, match up the details, and you're on your way to getting your item back.

JustStolen's easy-to-fill-out database

By the way, it might seem obvious, but PCs aren’t the only items that can be registered on the site. You can register anything the site describes, including DVD players, jewelry, cameras, motor vehicles, TV’s, iPods and artwork. Look here for a list of 63 recovered items.

Shea explained that, "...our goal is to get the items back to their owners, reduce the number of insurance claims, and identify the owner so a successful prosecution can take place." He said he doesn't make a dime from the site.

Does it work? Fortunately, I haven't had anything stolen or lost, so I didn't have a chance to test it. But you know darn well I'm going to spend the next few days finding serial numbers, taking pictures, and registering important items. (And one feature on my wish list: a way to import my existing Quicken inventory into the JustStolen site.)

Comments

Excellent idea! It's about time consumers had a way to get back their stuff! Way to go Juststolen.

dave7890

December 13, 2006

6:04 AM PT