NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- When city laptops containing the Social Security numbers of Davidson County voters were stolen around Christmas last year, a lot of people in Nashville were worried.

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And an I-Team investigation shows that those laptops weren't the only laptops stolen from city offices over the past three years. Four other laptops were taken from the Metro Arts Commission, Metro’s Southeast Building and two laptops were taken from the Metro Finance Department in 2005 and 2006.

The I-Team’s Jeremy Finley reported that the computers stolen in 2005 and 2006 were taken with ease and that has raised more questions about the security company guarding Metro’s buildings.

Metro employees said they assumed computers were safe but have learned otherwise over the years.

A police report states that the computer stolen from the Metro Southeast Building in 2006 was "supposed to be a secure location."

Wackenhut was the security contractor Metro was working with at the time. The company came under fire after the Christmas Eve break-in at the Metro Election Commission in which two laptops containing hundreds of thousands of Social Security numbers were stolen.

City officials later claimed that Wackenhut was also billing the city for services not being performed including not constantly guarding some buildings.

A former Wackenhut guard who was on duty during the break-in admitted getting lazy with security.

"I guess you get complacent after a while; when things run smooth, you're used to it," the guard said.

In response, City Council members called for audits of the company's work and for the city to get its own security force.

And the I-Team has learned that before the two laptops were stolen from the election commission, the four other laptops had been stolen from Metro offices starting in 2005.

"Well, you know, seeing this, there's a problem," said Metro Councilman Michael Craddock.

The problem reveals how easily the computers were stolen, Finley reported.

No one had to break a window in the previous break-ins like the thief did at the election commission.

In the other cases of stolen laptops, thieves apparently just walked in and walked out with the computers.

Metro Arts Commission Director Norree Boyd's laptop was stolen from under her desk while her Metro building was being remodeled.

"I just think someone just saw it and took it," she said.

In another case, former Metro employee Courtney Williams was convicted of stealing the two computers from the finance department. He didn't work for the finance department but was able to walk out with the laptops. Williams later pleaded guilty to the thefts, but the computers were never recovered.

Wackenhut was supposed to be guarding the buildings before the election commission break-in.

Under their watch of Metro buildings, six laptops have been stolen along with 20 packs containing emergency equipment, an AC unit, two cameras and 20 CD ROMs.

The I-Team had several questions for Wackenhut including how often the buildings are guarded.

A statement sent to the I-Team from a Wackenhut spokesman directed questions to the city: “The numbers of officers, hours of coverage and duties performed by Wackenhut Corporation are determined by our customer (Metro) and are based upon Metro's security objectives within each specific environment under this contract."

"I am surprised by it, because this is the first I've heard of it," Craddock said.

Craddock, who heads Metro’s public safety committee, said he never knew of the prior missing equipment until the I-Team told him.

He said city officials should have known all this before the election commission break-in.

"Common sense would dictate that you would institute measures to prevent that way before the election commission incident," Craddock said.

None of the laptops stolen from Metro Finance, the Metro Arts Commission or the city’s Southeast Building were recovered. The two laptops containing personal information stolen from the election commission were recovered a short time later.

A spokeswoman for Mayor Karl Dean said the users of the computers didn't save anything on their hard drives, but she said it's impossible to know for sure what was on the computers.