Sounds a lot more like Oakland than Berkeley.
Oakland is right next door to Berkeley. Oaklanderites wouldn't have to go far to engage in mischief in Berkeley.
When I was a student at Berkeley, living not far from the campus, the battery was stolen from my car (it was parked in the parking garage of the apartment building, not on the street). It was an old car so it was easy to open the hood. This was more than 40 years ago.