Robbery continues to be a problem for SF State students and their belongings and, according to the Department of Public Safety, officers are seeing a much more diverse group of suspects.

According to Deputy Chief of Police Patrick Wasley, in the eight incidents of robbery reported this semester on campus and in surrounding areas, the major change officers are noticing is the suspects vary immensely.

"It's a vast array of people. It's men, it's women, it's all races," Wasley said. "The youngest one we've had is 14, so we're dealing with kids as well as adults."

At 11:05 p.m. on Sept. 5, two female suspects were arrested for attempted robbery at Holloway and 19th Avenues. As is the case with most of the incidents thus far, the suspects approached the victim and demanded her cell phone. When the victim refused, the suspects pushed her to the ground and took it. The suspects were apprehended by university police officers and are facing attempted robbery charges.

Again, at 5:41 p.m. on Sept. 20, two juvenile suspects were arrested for a robbery in the carport area of University Park North. The suspects approached the victim and demanded his cell phone. When the victim walked away, the suspects knocked him to the ground and continued to strike him until he gave them his cell phone. The suspects were later apprehended by university police officers and are facing robbery charges.

The victims were not identified in police reports.

Other incidents reported have played out much like these, involving demands for cell phones or other devices, only with very different suspects each time.

According to SF State Chief of Police Kirk Gaston, students make themselves targets by focusing on their electronics, such as MP3 players and cell phones, while they navigate the campus and surrounding areas at night. Gaston said this severely reduces their awareness and advertises that they are in possession of these highly desirable and easily sold items.

"People get on their phones and their MP3 players and they tend not to be observant as to what's happening around them or who might be focusing in on them," Gaston said. "You forget the world around you, and that is what the perpetrators are counting on -- you being unaware and being taken completely by surprise with your headphones in, or your phone in your hand."

According to university police, this is a city-wide problem and SF State is no exception. However, criminals know that a large number of people with these pricey items can be found in and around the SF State campus.

The university police are continuing what they call "a robber suppression detail" to address some of the issues. Captain Reggie Parson said he can't get too specific, but the program involves applying a lot of resources and working in cooperation with the San Francisco Police Department.

"It's going to be padded with extra officers in the streets doing various assignments in various locations, applying tactics that will be useful in detecting areas and hopefully locating suspects," Parson said. "We're working with the city right now in developing some of those strategies."

According to University Communications Representative Nan Broadbent, robbery suppression details have been used before, but university police pattern their work based on the current trend in robberies -- time of day, days of week and the actual items most often taken -- in this case electronics.

"The one trend is what they're targeting," Gaston said. "That is the personal electronics. That's the high-dollar bait that they're going for."

Gaston added that when perpetrators take cell phones, victims have no way to call for help and this makes it difficult for police to catch the suspect.

"The very fact that they're taking your means of calling 911 creates a delay in the response time for officers," Gaston said.

According to the Department of Public Safety, students can help cut the supply of these opportunities by making themselves less of a target.

"We will never be able to quantify how many we've prevented by having the victims not be potential victims," Gaston said.