Electric scooter thefts skyrocket across Los Angeles

Electric scooters have become the vehicle of choice for many people in Los Angeles, including large numbers of college students. It turns out, they are also increasingly a target for thieves. 

In 2024, there were 1,046 reports of stolen motorized devices (the count includes e-bikes) in the city, according to publicly available Los Angeles Police Department data. That represents a 22.3% increase from the previous year, and is more than four times the count in 2021.

Electric scooters are often considered an environmentally friendly, easy-to-use and affordable transportation option. While rental devices from app-based companies such as Lime and Bird are scattered across the region, many people purchase their own rides. The price tag typically ranges from $250 to over $1,000.

In 2022 and 2023, there were frequently 50-80 reported thefts each month. That began to increase at the beginning of last year, hitting 92 in May.

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Then, in September, an unprecedented spike—potentially related to the start of the fall semester at area colleges and universities—took hold. LAPD data shows that September, October and November produced the three highest monthly counts ever of motorized device theft—well more than 100 each month.

Official figures are almost certainly an undercount. The LAPD began migrating to a new records management system last March, and not all crimes show up in public databases. Additionally, the number of December crimes in the entire database is below 5,000—traditionally there are 18,000-20,000 total crimes each month.

Also, not everyone who has a scooter taken will report it to the police.

Targeting student areas

University Park, home to the University of Southern California, tends to see more theft reports than any other neighborhood. The count in the community grew 22.6% in 2024 over the previous year, to 206 reports. There were notable increases at the start of the fall and spring semesters.

The next highest count was Venice, with 95 theft reports made last year.

Neil Flowers, who manages an apartment building north of the USC campus, said four scooters were stolen in the complex in the last three months. 

In the previous decade, there had been only one bike theft at the property.

“When the first person had a scooter stolen, it seemed incredibly unusual,” Flowers said. “Then one night, two scooters were stolen. That’s when I sent out an email saying, ‘Be careful about your property.’”

David Carlisle, assistant chief of the USC Department of Public Safety, said the return of students to campus following the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the increasing popularity of scooters among students, has contributed to the spike in University Park.

Carlisle encourages scooter owners to register their devices with DPS and to invest in a high-quality lock. 

“Thieves will typically look for the scooters that are unlocked,” he said. “Electric scooters are very popular, so they are easy to sell to unscrupulous buyers.”

Many scooters are taken from places with other devices parked nearby. Approximately 61% of thefts last year occurred on the street. Parking lots, garages and sidewalks made up another 24% of location targets. 

Nationwide concern

Other communities in Los Angeles have also seen clusters of thefts. NBC4 reported in December that more than 60 scooters had been stolen from the UCLA area in a two-month span. The UCLA police department was unable to comment in time for publication of this article.  

The situation is not unique to Los Angeles. Last April, USA Today reported that a rise in motorized vehicle theft is boosting campus crime statistics nationwide. Scooter thefts have also become a problem at the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard University.

There appears to be a difference between thefts of personal devices and those rented for short-term use. Charlie Mastoloni, Lime’s senior manager of government relations for the West Coast, said in an email that theft rarely affects the rental market due to the GPS tracking devices in each scooter. 

“While scooter theft does happen occasionally, it doesn’t affect our robust ridership in the city,” he said. “One benefit of our rental scooters is that we have processes to recover our vehicles, which might not always be an option for privately owned [devices].”

Still, precautions can be taken. When it comes to his scooter-owning tenants, Flowers, like Carlisle of USC, recommends investing in a high-quality lock. 

“If you have a case-hardened chain keeping your scooter or e-bike locked to the bike rack, or you have a ceramic-coated U-lock that costs you $100, your chances of being stolen from are negligible,” he said.

Flowers said that inexpensive cable locks provide limited protection against a thief armed with bolt cutters. 

“You may as well use a piece of spaghetti,” he said.

How we did it: We examined publicly available crime data from the Los Angeles Police Department from Jan. 1, 2020–Dec. 31, 2024. LAPD data only reflects motorized scooter and bicycle thefts that are reported to the department, not how many thefts actually occurred. In making our calculations, we rely on the data the LAPD makes publicly available. LAPD may update past reports with new information, or recategorize past reports. Those revised reports do not always automatically become part of the public database.

Have questions about our data or want to know more? Write to us at askus@xtown.la.