Cops: Lock up bikes
On-campus bike thefts are on the rise this year and the thieves are uncharacteristically bold, said Lt. Steve Milne of the USU Police Department.
Thefts are occurring in broad daylight, Milne said. Fifteen bikes have been stolen since August, indicating an increase in thefts from 2004, during which a total of 25 bikes were stolen.
“People are seeing these thefts occurring and either not realizing what they’re seeing or choosing not to get involved,” he said. “People should pay attention if they see someone loading bikes in a car or carrying a tool to cut locks or cables.”
Milne said locking bikes “is the first thing you can do to prevent thefts,” although police have seen a rash of incidents where thieves have taken the time to cut locks, also uncharacteristic of typical thefts on campus. Most thefts involve unlocked bikes.
Milne said many incidents of stolen bikes are cases of the thief grabbing a bike out of the rack to ride across campus, where the bike is abandoned. Students with inexpensive bikes tend not to lock them up and are sometimes shocked to find their bike was taken, he said. They expect more likely targets to be the higher-quality models parked next to theirs, but when the thief is just looking for a ride, any bike will do.
Some students simply immobilize their bikes by tying a tire to the frame instead of anchoring them to a stationary object, but if a bike isn’t tied down, thieves can just “pick it up and take it home,” Milne said.
Bikes have been snatched all over campus, said Milne, but the residential halls and the engineering building seem to be common targets.
Police have had stakeouts to try and catch thieves in the act and have planted “bait bikes” around campus with tracking devices. No one has taken any of them yet, Milne said.
Police aren’t sure if the thefts are being perpetrated by individuals or a group. Recently, four bikes missing from campus were found together off campus. Police are working on determining suspects. A total of eight of the missing bikes have been recovered.
Last year, there was a case of an individual coming down from the Idaho Falls area and taking stolen bikes back up there, Milne said. In that case, the bikes stolen were more expensive and the thief was selling them to pawn shops.
Generally, the thieves are targeting high-end models. Some of the bikes stolen were in the range of $1,000-$1,500. The total value of bikes missing on campus during August and September was $6,000, Milne said.
Campus police has jurisdiction over university property and any crime perpetrated on campus. If stolen goods are found off campus, they are still in charge of the investigation, although they may work with city or county police to locate suspects.
-ella@cc.usu.edu
A bike is locked to a post outside the TSC Tuesday evening. USU Police officers say they´ve seen an increse in bike thefts on campus this semester.