By: Hunter Cornejo
The University of Oklahoma Police Department introduced a scooter registration process this semester where students can register their scooter with the OU Parking and Transportation office in order to help track scooter theft on campus.
“They will file a police report, we’ll put the serial number we can get that out of the database and that helps,” OU Parking and Transit Ops Director Kris Glenn said. “Scooter registration is a big part of theft prevention and recovery.”
“The bikes and scooters themselves are both high theft items on the campus,” OU Chief of Police Nate Tarver said. “So it is a pervasive problem and certainly something we are trying to address as best we can.”
While OUPD has implemented this process, bicycle and scooter thefts are still occurring at a fairly high rate this semester. Since September 1st, there have been 44 bicycles and 12 electric scooters reported stolen on OU’s campus.
Since OU joined the Southeastern Conference (SEC) in July, OUPD has been able to share and receive resources from other member schools and police departments. According to Chief Tarver, the University of Oklahoma experiences similar amounts of theft as other SEC schools.
For example, the University of Arkansas has reported six bicycle and five scooter thefts since August. The University of Texas sends over 350 recovered bicycles a year to auction. Likewise, the University of Florida has struggled with bike thefts over the last few years, having 122 cases of theft in 2023.
“They [Florida] have initiated a program like what we are trying to do to keep high profile on the bikes, it’s kind of slowed their bike thefts down a little bit,” Tarver said. “Everybody is dealing with the same issue.”
Outside of the SEC, the University of Maryland, a Big Ten school, has experienced over 70 electric scooter thefts since September 1st.
According to the most recent data published by the FBI, over 150,000 bicycles were stolen in 2019. The table does not include an individual category for electric scooters as they fall under the category of motor vehicles.
Bicycles can range anywhere from $100 for a lower quality bike to up to $3,000 for higher end electric bikes at Academy. Electric scooters vary in price based on quality, battery life and top speeds, ranging from $130 to $1,000 at Academy. The high costs associated with these items are what OUPD believes makes them a target for theft, as there is a potential for resale.
“Some of these bikes… are very expensive, they are very nice and are stolen for parts,” Tarver said. “Now the scooters, that’s another thing, we really don’t know where those are going, if those are being pawned…or whether they are being freighted on eBay.”
OU Freshman student Ava Turchan uses an electric bicycle on campus daily. While Turchan has not experienced a theft, it has nearly happened.
“I came out one morning and my lock was halfway sawed through,” Turchan said. “I don’t know what stopped them, but I am glad they did cause they would have stolen my bike otherwise.”
Outside of registering the device with the Parking and Transportation office and adequately locking the device (OUPD recommends bicycles and scooters to be locked with an u-lock), tracking devices such as an Apple AirTag could be key in recovering the transportation device.
OU students can register their bicycles and scooters in person at the OU Parking and Transportation office, located in Jenkins Parking Garage, by providing a serial number for the device. Students can also fill out the registration online.