An undisclosed amount of cash and electronic equipment was stolen from Round Table Pizza in the University Union on March 28, said Lt. Daniel Davis of the University Police.

Davis said there were no signs of a break-in. According to the University Police Department Media Log, a safe and computer were stolen and security cameras were tampered with.”We have some leads that we’re working on,” Davis said.

Round Table surveillance cameras caught the burglary, but the images are distorted, said John Budd, vice president of operations for Valley Pizza, which owns and operates the Round Table in the Union.

The burglary occurred just after 11 p.m., about 20 minutes after the employees left, Budd said. The safe was broken into and money was taken from it.

Round Table has since installed a new safe and an alarm system.

“We have pretty good precautions in the first place,” Budd said. “There’s nothing more we could do.” He felt that whoever committed the burglary had knowledge of the area.

Budd also said that since the Union has night security and cleaning staff, he didn’t know how the intrusion could not have been heard.

Leslie Davis, director of the University Union, said that the Union does not have a security staff but uses public safety officers. Public safety officers do not patrol the Union regularly and are usually only there when they are called.

Davis said there are staff members in the Union all the time. She said there could be four custodians in the building at any given time of the night.

All staff members present in the Union during the burglary were questioned. None heard anything.

Davis said security is the Union’s number one priority, and she is concerned because “someone had some method to gain access without forced entry.”

She said it is a possibility that the burglar had a key. Keys to the Union are given to vendors, Associated Students Inc., and The State Hornet, among others, for access to the building. Each vendor is responsible for the security of their business.

The burglary was discovered in the morning. Davis said that the burglary went undiscovered by the night staff because nothing appeared out of the ordinary. “If someone uses a pry bar, you’re going to notice that,” Davis said.

The Union is researching the feasibility of putting surveillance cameras at various locations. Davis said any cameras the Union could install would not have caught this crime on tape because it occurred inside Round Table’s store. Davis also said there are issues that need to be addressed before surveillance cameras can be installed.

Engineering senior Suvarna Dabke said she doesn’t like cameras and thinks putting them in the Union is an invasion of privacy. She said she would wonder who is watching the tapes. “I’m an engineering major and in our lab we have cameras, and I don’t feel comfortable,” Dabke said.

Digital media senior Samuel Mendoza and government junior Javier Alvarez said surveillance cameras could constitute an invasion of privacy, depending on where they were installed. Both students were concerned with cameras being in rooms where organizations, such as fraternities and sororities, discuss private business.

This is not the first instance of a burglary on campus. Daniel Davis said that one of the coffee places was broken into last year. “It does not appear that the crimes are related,” he said.

Brandon Darnell can be reached at [email protected]