Ontario Teachers’ Insurance Plan working with police to recover stolen laptops

The Ontario Teachers’ Insurance Plan (OTIP) is working with Waterloo Regional Police to recover three stolen laptop computers, one of which may have contained personal information of OTIP’s insured teacher members.
The burglary happened on Dec. 3, 2009. Waterloo Regional Police informed OTIP that “this appears to be a smash-and-grab’ operation, with the intent to steal cash or objects easy to sell,” OTIP said in a public statement about the theft posted on its Web site.
The three stolen laptops had been locked to docking stations at the time of the burglary, OTIP noted. “The thieves broke the locks and escaped the building before security was able to respond to OTIP’s monitored security alarm.”
OTIP said it is sending out letters to any insured teacher members whose information may have been compromised. The letter includes a toll-free number that will connect the recipient of the letter to a trained specialist, who will give more precise information.
“Your identity is safe,” OTIP told its members in its public statement. “In the unlikely event your identity is compromised as a result of this occurrence, we will work with Canada’s credit-reporting agencies to correct the record and restore your credit rating and identity to its pre-theft condition.”
While OTIP says it has a total of 25,000 insured members, “the pool of affected members is relatively small,” OTIP says. “Only a small percentage of our members have been affected. If you don’t receive a letter, your information was not on one of the stolen computers.”
The Record in Kitchener-Waterloo reported 8,600 were affected, although it did not cite the source of the number.
Julie Millard, director of communications for OTIP, told The Record that the affected members were elementary school teachers with the Toronto District School Board.