The New Trend of Theft

Throughout August and September of 2021 thefts disguised as “Devious Licks” have been plaguing schools from across the country. From small items, like pencils, to necessary parts of the school, like toilets, nothing is safe from “Devious Licks”.

The originator of the trend was @jugg4elias on September 1 when they made a video on TikTok in which they stole a box of masks from their school. They captioned the video, “A month into school, absolutely devious lick”.

While the original “lick” was small, the scale of the theft committed under the guise of a trend has most definitely been on the rise.

Initial thefts, while still theft, were smaller items like pencils or food items. However, the importance of what was stolen rose exponentially when computers and fire alarms were being stolen as a part of the trend.

Certain schools have started press charges on children which have been caught participating in the trend. Depending on the amount, anyone caught participating in the trend may even be charged with a felony.

Due to the destruction caused by the onset of the trend, school bathrooms are being shut down and janitor’s jobs are becoming highly stressful.

Recently in Spring Grove, there was evidence of someone attempting to commit a “Devious Lick” on a light pole outside of the high school. Bolts were taken out of the pole in an attempt to take the pole out of the ground and remove it from the school grounds.

Recently, in an attempt to curb the trend, TikTok has removed most mentions of “Devious Licks” from the search. On September 15, 2021, TikTok tweeted, “We expect our community to create responsibly – online and IRL. We’re removing content and redirecting hashtags & search results to our Community Guidelines to discourage such behavior. Please be kind to your schools & teachers.”