Campus, News

Campus Police offer safety tips as thefts increase

The crime rate at Long Beach State during the fall 2021 semester has already overlapped the crime rate for all of last year, and the campus police department is giving advice to students and staff on how to avoid being a victim of theft.

Since the university reopened last month, there have already been 11 cases of petty theft, with six of them being bike theft and one grand theft of auto, Miles Persons, a crime analyst, said.

According to Penal Code 484, in the state of California, petty theft is the wrongful taking or stealing someone else’s property and the cost of the stolen item is $950.00 or less. If the cost exceeds $950.00, then it is considered grand theft.

Persons, who was hired in December after spending nine years at Cal State Fullerton, said that “most crimes on college campuses are petty theft.”

But the absence of students on campus during the COVID-19 pandemic had led to a subsequent decline in thefts since less vehicles were on campus. In CSULB’s 2020 annual security report, there were 11 reported vehicular theft crimes from January to March before the campus closed.

Captain John Brockie said the most common calls that the department receives are about bike thefts. The CSULB police department has recognized the issue and taken steps to lower the volume of bike theft calls.

Campus police are advising students who ride their bikes to campus to register the identification number of the bike with the department. Brockie said this would not solve the theft issue but would help aid the issue by making it easier to identify the stolen bike.

“We would have your serial number recorded, a picture of the bike, a picture of you, as the owner, so that’s not prevention, but it’s a recovery method,” he said.

Brockie explained that these thefts are common as the stolen bikes are sold to nearby bike shops for a small profit. Campus police suggested that students who ride their bikes should use either a combination lock or a U-lock as the best prevention method against theft.

As for auto thefts on campus, Brockie said that the department can’t do anything more than consistently and thoroughly patrol the campus in order to prevent them from happening.

“If someone really wants your car and they’re a good auto thief, they’re going to get it,” he said. “But just make sure your car is locked and activate the alarm if there is one.”

He also advised that students should park in a well-lit area and avoid the parking structure at night because of how dark and secluded it is.

“Parking structures seem to have a higher theft rate,” he said. “We look for patterns within our crime analysis and we will increase our patrol activities in those areas.”

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