Electric scooters are becoming more popular than ever. They help students get to class twice as fast, without the hassle of navigating student parking or buying a car. However, the rise of scooters also means the rise of thefts.
NMSU Police recently reported a 60% increase in scooter thefts from previous semesters.
NMSU student Madison Cruz loved having a scooter to navigate the campus. Cruz used her scooter every day to get from home to college, as she was recovering from a surgery that made it difficult to walk.
“Having a scooter helping me go around everywhere was amazing,” Cruz said. “I was still wearing a boot, so it sucked walking around because it would hurt a lot, my feet.”
One day, Cruz did not use a lock for her scooter and when she came out of class, her scooter was gone. Then it happened to her again.
“I just thought, you know what, I’ve left it outside before unlocked,” Cruz said. “Again, totally my fault, and nobody’s ever stolen before, and then it gets stolen.”
Cruz is now out $2,000 and two scooters in less than two years.
“I was really sad, I was kind of disappointed,” Cruz said. “I mean it’s my scooter. At the same time, it’s kind of like I can’t really expect much because that’s just how the world is sometimes.”
NMSU Interim Police Chief Justin Dunivan also commented on the 60% increase of scooter thefts from previous semesters.
“We’ve had approximately 30 different scooter thefts here on campus since August the 1st,” Dunivan said.
Electric scooter users use their scooters to ride across campus, but for those who are stealing, they have another use in mind.
“They exchange it for narcotics.” Dunivan said. “We’re seeing a lot of the property that we’re not able to recover because of serial numbers that have been etched off or round off.”
Once that serial number is etched off, there’s no way to trace the scooters. As for Cruz, she isn’t planning on buying another scooter anytime soon, but she’s still holding out hope that her scooter will show up one day.
The NMSU Police Department recommends using U-Locks, air tags and keeping your scooter in a highly public place to prevent it from becoming a target.
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