Between July of 2024 to July of 2025 alone, the San José State University Police Department has logged 162 reports regarding personal theft and 37 reports regarding petty theft, with a majority of instances being on campus, according to the monthly crime log on the school’s University Police webpage.
Theft has been a prominent issue on campus, with some students experiencing multiple instances of the crime during their time at SJSU.
Tucker Schneider, a fourth-year humanities student, spoke of three different instances where he encountered theft on campus, the first being theft of his skateboard.
“I was catching a little skate session with my homie and I didn’t bring water … I go into the building and go to the water fountain. When I come out, my shit is gone … I was in there for all of like three minutes, ” Schneider said.
“I reported it to the campus police and obviously they didn’t do shit about it, like what are they gonna do … I just had to take the ‘L’. ”
Theft of e-scooters and skateboards are especially notable considering their cost and how some students rely on these modes of transportation to commute around and to campus as well as housing.
Natalie Urbina, a fourth-year mechanical engineering student, says loss of her e-scooter would impair her mobility on campus.
“I have night classes and I’m not trying to be walking at night,” Urbina said.
The price of e-scooters and skate boards are significant, with e-scooters retailing on average from $300 to upwards of $4,000 depending on the quality according to a webpage by Circooter.
Skateboards can range anywhere from $50 to upwards of $300 according to a webpage by Skate Avenue.
Sydney Santos, a first-year chemical engineering student, said she uses her e-scooter heavily and that she’s seen bikes getting vandalized around campus.
“I take [my e-scooter] everywhere … I’ve seen bikes getting stolen, I’ll just see the wheel attached and they steal the rest of the bike,” Santos said.
SJSU’s bike enclosures are located at the Student Services Center, the Spartan Memorial, 7th Street Plaza, San Carlos Plaza, 9th Street Plaza and MacQuarrie Hall.
The code of conduct instructs students not to: Transfer their enclosure key to another person, allow a non-key holder into an enclosure, prop open the enclosure door, leave bikes unattended for a long period of time, etc., according to an SJSU webpage.
Govanny Duran, a second-year biological sciences student said they saw a houseless man tampering with the lock of a scooter in front of Campus Village C (CVC).
“I saw this homeless (houseless) dude cutting the lock of an electronic scooter … he cut the lock off so he could take it,” Duran said.
He also mentioned that a large load of his clothes was stolen out of the CVC laundry room.
“I walked in there a day after [washing] … 20 pairs of my pants were gone … (UPD) just couldn’t do anything about it because they didn’t see anything …I feel like there should be cameras inside of [the laundry room],” Duran said.
The UPD claims around 90% of the calls for service are related to non-affiliate illegal activity due the nature of an open campus and the high transient population in San José, according to their 2022 Annual Report.
Charlie Mariscal, a fourth-year public relations student and employee at the Spartan Recreation and Aquatic Center (SRAC), spoke on instances of theft in front of the school gym as well as services the gym provides to negate thieving.
“Yeah, we definitely get reports of people getting their scooters or skateboards stolen … I haven’t witnessed anything, I always just get reports of it,” Mariscal said.
“We give a lock policy if you just turn in your ID or anything valuable, we just give you a lock for you to be able to lock up your scooter outside,” Mariscal said.
Mariscal also said the footage on the camera outside the gym is not available to them and only accessible through the UPD.
The UPD has not commented on the theft on campus at this time, but their monthly crime logs are available to the public.
The UPD recommends a multitude of tactics to prevent theft starting on page 25 of their 2008 Annual Safety Report and Crime Statistics document.
Some methods include: keeping your door and windows locked, taking your keys with you, never leaving valuables or personal items in common areas, taking valuables home during vacation and dialing 9-1-1 or 408-924-2222 or picking up a blue light telephone.
Mallika Natarajan, a third-year software engineering student, talked about the theft she experienced outside the SRAC.
“I was there just to use the restroom and then I put my board in the slot outside … went to the restroom, came out, it was just gone, it was just two minutes. I’m sure there was someone sitting on a bench nearby waiting for an opportunity to strike …” Natarajan said.
Natarajan also said that four of her friends had a similar experience, with three of them encountering theft outside the SRAC as well and one of them experiencing it outside a bathroom in the Student Union.
“It’s kind of insane how vulture-y the people are with stealing all the skateboards,” Natarajan said.
