Community effort looks to beat bike theft
Published 12:00 am Friday, July 1, 2016
- Community effort looks to beat bike theft
Bike thieves in Bend, beware.
Bend Police Department has launched a program to combat growing bike theft in town. Their multipronged approach includes a coalition of local bike shops and others in the biking community, improved training for officers to recognize stolen bikes, a “bait bike” sting program, community education and a partnership with the national bike registry program Bike Index.
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More than 400 bikes were stolen in Bend in 2015 and fewer than 80 of them were recovered and returned to owners, resulting in more than $467,000 in stolen property, according to Bend Police. Administrative Sgt. Dan Ritchie says the department attributes this number, a 49 percent increase from 2014, to the town’s growing population and coordinated bike-stealing operations that target Bend because of its bike-friendly reputation.
“What happened is that over the years we were finding that we were kind of ineffective in dealing with bike theft, we recovered lots of abandoned bikes but were unable to find their owners. And then we had a crime analyst come in and she found that bike theft was growing,” Ritchie said. “Because Bend is a very popular biking community, we want people to feel comfortable and safe, and know that their investment is going to be safe.”
Bend Police organized a community meeting — the Bend Bike Theft Summit — earlier this year, which gathered other police departments, local bike shop owners and others in the biking community, including Pine Mountain Sports, Commute Options, Visit Bend and Bendbikes.org at Pine Mountain Sports to discuss their findings and possible solutions.
The committee found part of the problem was that very few bicycles were registered with the city or with another online bike registry service, and many people who reported their bikes stolen did not know the serial numbers. When police find a bicycle they suspect is stolen, the serial number acts as confirmation, and the registry can allow them to find the owner.
The city has partnered with an online, national bike registry service called Bike Index in an effort to address that issue. The site allows users to register their bicycles for free with the serial numbers and their contact information, post if their bike has been stolen and contact others if they find a bike.
“Over 1,000 bikes have been recovered because of Bike Index (nationwide). It’s been successful in San Francisco and Portland,” Ritchie said. “We wanted to use something that was already successful and that people could take with them if they move to another community.”
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Shailee Moore, of Bend, said she did not know the serial numbers when she and her boyfriend’s bikes were stolen from their driveway on Memorial Day afternoon.
“It made it kind of difficult,” she said. “I guess we shouldn’t have left them out, but at the same time we think we’re living in this safe, kid-friendly community and we’d left them out before, but it can happen anywhere.”
Moore, who says the bikes were worth about $400 each, thinks the rising cost of living in Bend, and the need for some to find alternate sources of income, may contribute to the growing bike theft problem.
As part of their partnership with the police department, many local bike shops are now helping customers register with Bike Index when they purchase a bicycle. Dan McGarigle, owner of Pine Mountain Sports, said he sees customers come in for a new bike after having theirs stolen on a weekly basis, so shop owners are also aiming to better educate the public on how to avoid bike theft.
According to Bend Police, more than 66 percent of bikes stolen from racks in 2015 were secured, but many of them with cheap cable locks.
“We want to educate customers, and most bike lock companies will give you a rating of a lock’s protection,” McGarigle said. “Most of the popular ones are rated as a 4 or 5, which is definitely not great. A rating of 8, 9 or 10 will take time to steal, and thieves likely won’t bother with that.”
Additionally, the police department has implemented a “sting” program to catch bike thieves, which has already led to 14 felony bike theft arrests. Of those arrested, Ritchie said four had active warrants for their arrests, 12 had prior arrests for theft and one was in possession of controlled substances.
McGarigle said the local bike community is energized by the city and community’s efforts to combat bike theft, and expressed hope that the enthusiasm will continue. Ritchie echoed this sentiment, saying with the town growing and bike thieves becoming smarter, a strong community effort will be necessary to thwart the problem.
“We’re going to continue with what we’re doing now because it’s working, but it’s still early so we’re not waving a victory flag yet. We don’t want a false sense of security,” Ritchie said. “The next stage will be trying more to get the message out to the public.”
— Reporter: 541-633-2108, cduffy@bendbulletin.com