Paige Nelson, Photo Editor

When someone thinks of going back to school, theft and crime probably aren’t primary considerations; however, for the San Diego State Police Department, it’s at the top of the list.

“There’s the same spike in property theft that we usually see at the beginning of the semester,” Capt. Lamine Secka of the SDSUPD said.

An increase in crime on campus is undeniable. Week after week safety messages have flooded students’ email inboxes with alerts about robberies, bomb threats and other incidents.

Recently on campus, cell phone robberies have been a trend, but these types of crimes are not isolated to just SDSU.

According to the Federal Communications Commission, “In DC, New York and other major cities, roughly 40 percent of all robberies now involve cell phones – endangering both the physical safety of victims and the safety of the personal information on stolen devices.”

Secka explained the motives of why he thinks cell phone theft is on the rise.

“Cell phone theft is becoming the ‘crime du jour.’ It’s happening across the country especially in universities,” Secka said. “It’s fairly easy to sell cell phones on Craigslist or Ebay for fast money.”

Secka said a main concern for the SDSUPD is how this semester’s crimes have been increasingly violent.

SDSU Chief of Police John Browning reacted to the most recent incident at the campus trolley station by sending an email addressing the issues on campus.

“To deter further incidents and help in the apprehension of other criminals, SDSU is taking immediate action,” Browning’s email reads. “This includes increasing the number of officers on patrol and deploying various technologies, such as more security cameras and other surveillance tools.”

Secka said the SDSUPD will follow through on the email and additional officers will be present on campus and on weekends when incidents typically occur.