On Aug. 30, Simpson students, faculty, and staff received a mass security alert from Director of Security Chris Frerichs. The email updated students about reported thefts occurring on campus in the last two weeks. 

While there were reports of theft in various buildings, Frerichs said the thefts seem to be more frequent in locker rooms.

According to Bob Nutgrass, the head athletic director, thefts are uncommon in the athletic department.

“I’ve been in the athletic department for about 20 years of my 30,” Nutgrass said. “We’ve never had a problem with thefts in the locker rooms or any of our buildings. We have so many entrances to all these venues it’s hard to keep everything locked.”

Coaches have keys, but Simpson does have interns and student coaches that will borrow keys from head coaches. Sometimes athletes will ask to use the keys as well.

Handing out locker room keys is not permitted. 

“The athlete will ask the coach to unlock the door, the coach agrees to help and the student returns the key afterward,” Nutgrass said. “There are a lot of instances where strict monitoring sometimes isn’t always possible.”

Nutgrass had some advice for students who may be concerned about their belongings getting stolen, especially for athletes who leave their equipment in the locker rooms. 

“It’s about safety,” Nutgrass said. “It could happen in any building, if it’s not locked.”

Many of the items that were taken were supposedly out in the open.

“We give all the athletes a lock, and they have a locker,” said Nutgrass. “If you can lock up your valuables, you should. There were lockers that were not locked, so that would lend itself to people if they wanted to come in and take something. It makes [theft] easy. If we issue a lock to the athletes, they should use it.”

According to Nutgrass, students are supposed to show their ID when they enter the locker rooms. A work study student will check them in.

“But the level of security is a little bit better, because there’s only supposed to be faculty, students, and staff in the facility,” said Nutgrass. “Our work study money covers the work study students who are sitting at the weight room benches and at the desks to check people in.”

Currently, campus security is working with the Indianola Police Department to investigate the thefts. Due to the ongoing nature of the investigation, Frerichs was unable to comment further. Athletic department faculty and staff were also instructed not to comment at this time.