Charlotte-Mecklenburg School's computer recovery leads police to more than just stolen computers.

As computers increase their presence in the classroom, theft has become an unfortunate inevitability for school computing programs. HP customer Charlotte-Mecklenberg Schools (CMS) was reminded of reality, when, in early 2009, four HP notebooks were stolen from an elementary learning center.

Luckily, HP is committed to safe school computing and offers customers robust security options. Of these, CMS had installed Computrace® by Absolute® Software - a computer theft recovery, data protection and IT asset management solution embedded in the firmware of many HP models – across its HP fleet. In the face of computer theft, this installation proved invaluable – to the school, police, and Immigrations and Customs Enforcement.

CMS was quick to report the theft to Absolute’s Theft Recovery Team, which, liaising with law enforcement agencies, recovers thousands of stolen computers annually. Upon receiving the report, the Recovery Team used Computrace technology to track the notebooks’ location, gather evidence from the computer and identify its unauthorized user. The evidence Absolute gained from the computer indicated that it likely was being used as part of a document lab, where fake IDs, Social Security cards and other documents were being created. This information was passed on to authorities.

Violating several immigration laws, the user was well-known to police, and so, accompanied by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, officers staged a raid on the suspect’s residence. This raid led to more than the safe recovery of the HP notebook. In addition to capturing the alleged illegal immigrant and thief, officers also confiscated a laminating machine, a scanner and printer, and among other suspicious items, hole punches used for ID cards.

Although Absolute’s recovery operations are generally more low-key, the outcome of the CMS recovery remains positive. The school has been happily reunited with its HP computer, and the thief apprehended. In addition, Absolute has tracked two of the remaining stolen machines to the Dominican Republic and is working with local police to return the notebooks to CMS in the near future.

For more information on protecting your IT Assets with Computrace®, contact your HP Sales Representative today.

For more information about Absolute Software and Computrace, visit Absolute and the Absolute blog.