October 5, 2006
Police warn bicyclists to protect their property as thefts increase
Want to keep your bicycle safe on campus? Then the UW Police have two messages for you:
- There is no such thing as a good cable lock.
- An unregistered stolen bike is much harder to recover.
The messages are timely because bicycle thefts on campus have increased, police say. There were 23 bicycles stolen last month, compared to 10 or 12 in an average month. And the increase is the continuation of a trend from last year, when a total of 200 bikes were stolen.
“The majority of bikes stolen — I’d say easily 90 percent — were secured with cable locks,” said Ray Wittmier, assistant police chief for operations. “Any lock can be defeated, but the likelihood with some of the better locks, the U shaped locks, is much lower.”
Bicyclists may recall that a few years ago, information circulating on the Internet showed how a particular U-shaped lock could be broken using nothing more than a pen. The company, however, has since corrected that flaw, and U-shaped locks are still the lock of choice, police say.
“The average bike today costs about $700,” Wittmier said. “Why not invest another $30 and get a good lock?”
And after you’ve secured your bike with a good lock, police recommend that you register it with them. It’s easy — you can do it online — and it’s free. (While you’re at it, you can also register your laptop, iPod, cell phone or other electronic device.) Go to www.washington.edu/admin/police and click on “bicycle registration.”
When you register, you’ll be asked to give the bike’s serial number, color, make, model, frame size and style and number of speeds. Registering a bike with the police makes it easier for them to recover, Wittmier said.
Let’s suppose, for example, that police discover a repeat offender bicycle thief in the act of getting on a bike. If your bike is registered, the police can compare serial numbers and prove that the bike does not belong to the person who currently has it.
Or, let’s suppose that the thief has already unloaded the bike to a pawn shop. Pawn shops are required to report property they receive to their local police, and again, a match can easily be made if the police have the bike’s serial number.
Police have recently acquired a new tool in their quest to recover stolen property like bicycles. They’ve contracted with Leads Online (www.leadsonline.com), a company that collects information about property from pawn shops and second hand stores and makes it available to law enforcement. Now, instead of having to contact pawn shops individually, police can go online and look for bikes and other property that has been reported stolen.
Campus community members need not look askance at each other because of bike theft. “The vast majority of bikes are stolen by people who have no connection to campus,” Wittmier said. “In fact, we know a lot of them. They’re often drug abusers who grab the bikes for quick cash.”
The most vulnerable bike racks are those close to the Burke Gilman Trail, police say. So places like the overpasses between upper campus and the Health Sciences Center, the C-10 parking lot near Bloedel and the Terry-Lander area are easy places to snatch a bike and head off down the trail.
“We’re checking the racks more frequently and may even be putting some plainclothes officers out there to try to catch thieves in the act,” Wittmier said. “But really, the best advice I can give people to protect their property is to get a good lock and take the time to register the bike.”
