Rise in Santa Monica crime plays out on Samo campus

Claire GoldbergStaff WriterSanta Monica crime rates rose dramatically in 2012 and have affected Samo students both inside and outside of school.According to Santa Monica Police Department (SMPD) Sergeant Richard Lewis, Part One crimes, which include homicide, rape, robbery, assault, burglary, auto theft and shoplifting, have gone up 12 percent and thefts in general have increased by 9 percent since 2011.Bicycles were the most common theft this year and last year, according to Lewis. Last year, 1,471 thefts of bicycles and thefts from shops were reported. This year, there have been 1,601 cases reported and the number is still rising.“Stealing bicycles directly affects families in Santa Monica,” Lewis said. “It stops students that need to get to school on a bicycle or want to go out and ride their bike on the weekends.”Although bikes have been stolen at Samo, according to O-House Principal Clara Herran, many students do not go to the trouble of reporting bicycle thefts to the school. Students who do have to file a report of the theft to SMPD.“For the most part, most people do not get their things back,” Herran said. “We work with two Santa Monica Police Officers from the Youth Division that do the reports and some of the investigations.”According to Samo Principal Laurel Fretz, the majority of thefts at Samo are of minor items, like phones and wallets.“Every week, we have cell phones, wallets, money and iPods stolen,” Fretz said. “Usually it happens when a student leaves [possessions] by accident on a table, desk or in the bathroom. [But,] occasionally, a dishonest person takes things out of another student’s backpack pocket.”Fretz said that unless the student knows who stole their possessions, which is unlikely, Samo can do very little about stolen items. House principals or any other school official are not allowed to search backpacks without reasonable suspicion.Recently, according to Samo students, shoes and wallets have been stolen from lockers during Physical Education (P.E.) and Yoga classes at school. Maya Toolin (’15) said her wallet was stolen during her fifth period yoga class.However, Yoga instructor Jason Battung said that the only theft he was aware of was a pair of shoes that was stolen, and that the shoes turned up a few days later.Kian Zohoury (’15) said that people who are stolen from should blame themselves, not the thief. He had some of his possessions stolen last year.“It was my fault for leaving my things out,” Zohoury said. “It’s uncommon to find a trustworthy individual today who would return any stolen or lost property. At the end of the day, though, the thieves are the ones that get hurt the most.”cgoldberg@thesamohi.com