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Airport security may be protecting passengers from violence, but theft could be another story.

Southwest Florida International Airport landed in the top five among mid-sized airports for loss and theft of laptop computers, according to a study by market research firm Ponemon Institute, based in Michigan.

However, airport and security representatives are calling the findings for Southwest Florida International bogus.

The study was conducted on behalf of Dell computers, which recently announced a new line of security services to recover lost or stolen laptops and protect data on the machines.

“Airport Insecurity: The Case of Lost Laptops” studied 70 airports from among the 123 Class C, or medium-sized, airports in the United States. Among those, Southwest Florida International fell fourth with a reported average of 130 laptops to go missing or turn up stolen each week.

Southwest Florida International security representatives countered that the numbers are dead wrong.

“On average, less than one laptop per month is left behind at Southwest Florida International Airport screening checkpoints,” said a written statement that Sari Koshetz, Transportation Security Administration representative, issued Tuesday. “Virtually all of these are reunited with their owners.”

Security checkpoints and departure gates net the majority of lost laptops, the study states, with 40 percent and 23 percent of laptops missing from those locations, respectively.

“The stress of rushing to catch a flight combined with the number of items business travelers typically carry ... creates a situation that is conducive to property loss,” the study said.

According to the study, about 12,000 laptops are lost per week in U.S. airports, with about 2,000 of those lost in medium-sized airports, such as Southwest Florida International.

“Some folks have looked at these numbers and said, ‘That’s just way too much,’ ” said Mike Spinney, a Ponemon representative. “But there’s 3.5 million airport travelers a week. That’s one-third of 1 percent whose laptops go missing.”

That assumes, of course, that every one of the 3.5 million travels with a laptop in airports.

Among medium-sized airports, Southwest Florida International Airport fell behind Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International Airport in California and Austin-Bergstrom International Airport and San Antonio International Airport, both in Texas.

Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood International Airport was reported fifth.

In the large airports category, Los Angeles International Airport, Miami International Airport, John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, Chicago O’Hare International Airport and Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey had the highest rates of loss reported, in the range of 1,200 to 750 laptops.

About one-third of lost and found laptops are returned to their owners, the study says, but it didn’t provide specific return rates for each airport.

But Koshetz said only one misplaced laptop in the last three years has gone unclaimed at Southwest Florida International.

“In most cases, the passenger realizes either that day or the next day that they don’t have their computer,” Koshetz said. “They contact the customer support manager directly who arranges to have the computer shipped to the owner.”

Koshetz said she was never contacted by the study’s authors, refuting the claim by Spinney that the numbers were gathered through phone conversations with the airport officials in charge of lost and found items.

Airport Public Relations Director Vicki Moreland said she, likewise, has never spoken with anyone from Ponemon.

“They did not talk to me,” Moreland said. “When this airport is asked questions by anyone from the media or another outside group, it goes through the public relations department.”

She said the airport’s police department, which couldn’t run a quick search for reports of missing laptops, was able to confirm that as of Tuesday, the airport’s lost-and-found contained only one laptop.

“And that guy is picking it up tomorrow,” Moreland said Tuesday. “If we had eight or nine laptops down there unclaimed, that would be pretty significant.”

Koshetz said the study was also off with its numbers for Miami International Airport, where a whopping 1,000 laptops are reported missing per week, according to the study.

“In Miami, that study would have indicated 52,000 laptops a year (lost),” Koshetz said. “What we reported to the TSA was 38. Most were unfounded or reunited with the owner.”

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) may soon help cut down on some of the confusion wrought by security checkpoints, allowing laptops to go through screening in so-called “check-point friendly” cases.

Such bags would allow laptops to remain in their cases to be viewed through X-ray equipment, unhindered by zippers, buckles or wires.

Koshetz said the bags are being developed through a challenge issued by TSA to private companies.

“We haven’t accepted any bags yet,” Koshetz said. “We’re still having people who seem to have met the specifications bring them to us for testing.”

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Keeping a handle on your laptop

-- Mark it for easy identification

-- Display name and contact information prominently

-- Carry it in a shoulder bag so it’s close by

-- Travel light; it’s easier to keep track of just a few items

-- Leave plenty of time when traveling, to avoid mistakes or confusion

-- In security, don’t let it leave your sight while out of a bag