Social media trend ‘Devious Licks’ encourages student vandalism and theft, worrying Southern California school officials

A caller societal media inclination that encourages students to vandalize oregon steal  schoolhouse spot has prompted acquisition leaders successful caller days, including immoderate successful Southern California, to nonstop retired memos oregon warnings to unit and parents arsenic they question to minimize imaginable harm to their campuses.

The alleged Devious Licks challenge, which gained a caller foothold connected the TikTok societal media app, involves students posting videos that amusement disconnected items they person stolen oregon damaged. Its sanction derives from the slang operation “hit a lick,” which implies getting thing of worth quickly.

The trend, evident astir the country, has affected Southern California schools to varying degrees.

Officials astatine immoderate section districts, similar Los Angeles Unified School District, accidental determination haven’t been immoderate reported incidents, but person alerted schoolhouse administrators to beryllium connected the lookout for suspicious activity. Others person reported vandalized spot astatine aggregate campuses wrong their district.

At the Murrieta Valley Unified School District successful the Inland Empire, which boasts much than 20,000 students, schoolhouse officials sent retired a memo to parents this week that said mediate and precocious schools person had “soap dispensers, fixed signage, a machine monitor, and manus sanitizer stations torn retired of walls causing thousands of dollars worthy of damage.”

Officials said they would summation surveillance connected field and reappraisal camera footage. For students recovered stealing, vandalizing oregon successful possession of stolen property, the territory said it would question to record charges and restitution from the students oregon their parents.

Videos related to the trend, which archetypal appeared connected the app successful aboriginal September, garnered millions of views. TikTok has since banned contented related to the inclination and removed the hashtag for violating its assemblage line policy, but immoderate videos tin inactive beryllium found.

In Orange County, Santa Ana Unified School District officials sent a memo to parents connected Thursday, Sept. 16 which said soap dispensers and manus sanitization stations had been damaged astatine schools successful the district.

The territory did not person an nonstop fig of cases reported, but said it was chiefly astatine their mediate schools.

In response, the territory said it would reappraisal camera footage and summation surveillance connected campus. The missive urged parents to “please speech with your kid astir the superior consequences of participating successful this trend.”

Further southbound successful Orange County, Capistrano Unified School District spokeswoman Chelsea Turner confirmed by email that they had besides received reports the inclination affecting schools successful their territory and “individually analyse the study arsenic appropriate.” Administrators did not merchandise further accusation connected what mightiness person been taken oregon damaged.

This is not the archetypal clip a societal media inclination has influenced teenagers. Earlier this twelvemonth a teen ended up successful the ICU with terrible burns aft mimicking a antheral spraying hairsbreadth spray astatine a reflector and lighting it connected fire.

Sgt. Rudy Perez, a spokesperson for the LA School Police, said antagonistic societal media trends similar this person a two-pronged effect.

The archetypal vandalism, which is simply a crime, damages schools financially, but there’s besides the nonaccomplishment of acquisition hours erstwhile instrumentality is missing oregon destroyed and negatively impacts students, Perez said.

Perez attributes the anticipation of immoderate societal behaviour issues to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has kept students mostly astatine location and socially distanced past year. The extremity is not incarcerating students successful response, but getting them to explicit themselves successful a steadfast mode and connected the close track.

“There’s going to beryllium a process for our students to get backmost to what we would telephone normal,” said Perez.