By Katie Priest and Ava Uhlack, Oct. 15, 2024
Motor vehicles thefts at Cal Poly Pomona in 2023 increased by over 120% compared to 2022, according to the 2024 Clery report on campus safety.
This crime accounts for over a quarter of all crimes on campus, according to the same report. The steep increase is registered after CPP started counting e-scooters and other motorized devices, such as bikes and skateboards, under the motor vehicle category for motor vehicle thefts for the first time in 2023.
In the 2023 report, it was detailed that five incidents had been reported in that year, adding to the 15 other reported motor vehicle thefts. All thefts were determined to have occurred on the campus itself rather than the campus residential areas.
According to the CPP crime logs that match the report, the thefts ranged from motor parts to full vehicles occurring at a variety of campus locations. The hardest-hit area was Parking Lot B behind Scolinos Field with five thefts. The lot accounted for 25% of all motor vehicle thefts for 2023.
Parking Structure 1 and the University Village lots were close behind with three thefts each. February was the month with the most thefts as six were recorded over the 28-day period and the majority were in Parking Lot B.
Compared with only two other universities that included the new parameter to the 2024 safety reports, Sacramento State University and California State University at San Marcos, CPP ranked second with seven motor vehicles stolen per 10,000 students. Sacramento State topped this short list with almost 10 motor vehicles stolen in 2023 per 10,000 students, whereas CSU San Marcos ranked third with almost 2 motor vehicle thefts per 10,000 students.
Out of the 22 California State Universities that have released Clery reports for 2023, only three have included the new parameter to the 2023 data report, according to the available Clery reports from each respective university website. The one unreleased report from Cal Maritime will not be available until Dec. 31.
The Clery report is a set of specific crime rates defined by the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Crime Statistics Act that requires campuses and universities to release crime information for student awareness and protection.
Each report contains three years of data, the two previous years and the current report, for reviewing purposes with a specified set of crimes to report on, including but not limited to burglary, motor vehicle theft, arson and rape.
The Clery act also outlines universities’ use of emergency push notifications. This includes any texts, phone calls, voicemails or emails students, faculty and staff may receive in an emergency with instructions as to how to protect themselves, according to Jennifer Wheeler, the Clery director at Cal Poly Pomona. This may include sheltering in place or staying away from the campus entirely.
The change in the motor theft category comes from the directive of the Chancellor’s office, according to Wheeler.
“It comes from guidance from the Chancellor’s office and their analysis of the motor vehicle code,” said Wheeler. “Over the past few years, there definitely has been an increase in the use of electric bikes and scooters, and in the actual vehicle code, they have classified those as motor vehicles and should be treated the same as other motor vehicles like cars and trucks.”
How each campus initiates the change is dependent upon each individual university.
Cal State San Marcos started the policy change by updating its 2022 information, while CPPand Sacramento State noticeably had the changes in their 2023 reports.
At CPP, the most targeted vehicle type within the new category are e-scooters, according to Lieutenant Jose Plasencia Jr. from the University Police Department.
In the case of a stolen e-bike, e-scooter or e-skateboard, UPD runs the information about the item in its system of registered vehicles in order to start tracking the item, according to Plasencia.
There is a form on the UPD website to register an electric scooter or bike, and doing so makes it easier for UPD to keep track of the theft by having the information about the vehicle on hand, according to Plasencia. With the information, officers can identify if stolen property is reported as found or if someone reports it seen on campus.
“The best way for students to protect their property is to just be aware,” said Plasencia. “Make sure your items are always locked up with a lock and can’t be removed and register your vehicles so the police department can help track them down if something does happen.”
When locking items up before going to class, it’s best to loop the locking cable multiple times or in a way that the item can’t be maneuvered out of the restraint and to double check before heading off, according to Plasencia.
“I just take it everywhere I go; I made sure I got a small one because I didn’t want to lug around the huge longboards,” said Matthew Manino, an economics student who uses an e-skateboard to navigate CPP’s hills and long distances. “I just take it into my classrooms, and none of my professors have an issue with it. I emailed them before class started to let them know, ‘Hey, I have a skateboard, I’m going to just tuck it away in class.’”
Feature image courtesy of Bren Belmonte