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A study on laptop computer loss in airports was meant to reflect passenger — not airport — negligence, says the author.

A study released by the Michigan based-Ponemon Institute in late June identified Southwest Florida International Airport as the mid-sized airport with the fourth-highest rate of missing laptops in the United States.

Study findings have been hotly contested by representatives of some airports in the study, members of the Transportation Security Administration and, locally, officials at Southwest Florida International.

Where the study reported 130 laptops lost or stolen each week at Southwest Florida International, airport representative Vicki Moreland said Wednesday the airport lost and found department has had just 23 laptops in custody since the start of the year. Every laptop has been returned to its owner, she said — most on the very same day.

“On average, less than one laptop per month is left behind at Southwest Florida International Airport passenger screening checkpoints,” Transportation Security Administration representative Sari Koshetz wrote in a statement released Tuesday.

“Virtually all of those are reunited with their owners.”

Ponemon Institute Director Larry Ponemon said the report was meant to reflect those laptops that go missing — no matter how short the period of time.

“You can’t track those numbers that are not reported missing and get reunited,” Ponemon said. “We know, casually, based on our numbers, that a large number of our statistics would fall into the category of missing and reunited.”

He said that includes the passenger who walks away from a security checkpoint, realizes she is a little lighter, and walks back to retrieve the computer within minutes.

To determine the numbers of laptops left everywhere from the check-in counter to the rest room to the departure gate, Ponemon said his researchers interviewed anywhere from five to 50 workers in each airport. He estimated that eight or nine employees at Southwest Florida International were interviewed to determine loss rates.

“We call it a ‘rank-and-file study,’ ” Ponemon said. “We decided to do that research to talk to the people who work at the front lines. Many of these may not get reported as missing.”

The research was intended to reflect how many computer records become vulnerable to outside parties, Ponemon said.

“The whole study was not about the laptop,” Ponemon said. “It’s about the sensitive information.”

He evoked the memory of the computer stolen from the home of a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs staffer in 2006, laying bare the files on more than 22 million veterans.

“It’s an issue of passenger negligence,” Ponemon said. “It’s not about airport mismanagement.”

Ponemon said his firm will conduct a follow-up study to validate the numbers contained in the original report. The original study, “Airport Insecurity: The Case of Lost Laptops,” was sponsored by Dell computers.

However, Ponemon said the study was initiated independently eight months ago, and the firm entered discussions with Dell in late April, as the computer company got ready to launch a line of security services and accessories.