Bike Theft Prevention 101
UCSB’s unit cost approximately $400 and requires a $40 monthly service fee. “We are looking at alternatives and purchasing more GPS devices, or finding something that is a little less costly,” states Stern. “I believe it would be more effective with more (units) out there.” He does admit resources might be an issue for many departments. “We bought a GPS to see if it was worth it. It has been. We’ve demonstrated it is an effective tool.”
Bike choice, deployment & recovery time
The purpose of the bait bike program is to catch those who prey on the campus community. Because agencies like the U of M believe most area thieves are stealing for profit and are likely not students, agencies deploying the technology put the GPS units on average bikes left in average locations under average conditions. “The bikes are consistent with what the population is putting out,” says Chapin. “We’re not putting out a $7,000 or $8,000 racing bike. It’s what a student, staff or faculty would typically have on campus. We rotate through having them locked and unlocked. We want to have it consistent with the bicycles we’re having stolen. We’re trying to target people who have been known bike thieves [not entice those who aren’t normally].”
UCSB utilizes bicycles that have become property of the state. “We can get creative because we have many bikes to choose from,” explains Stern.
U of M uses a “fairly average bike,” says Swanson. “That’s a discretionary thing—How nice of a bike are you going to have? Bike thieves look at a bike and [consider if] they could pawn it or sell it on Craigslist. The depreciation is pretty large. So, to them, a $1,000 bike might not be looked at differently than a $450 one.”
Since first deploying the bait bike, UW-Madison has tried to have the bikes out as much as possible during decent conditions. “We deploy it during the fall and spring because that is when our students are on campus using bikes,” states Swanson, referencing U of M’s program. “Summer, it is less. The battery will last about seven to 10 days depending. We leave it out for a week or so at a time. We don’t do it every single day.”
As far as recovery time, most agencies were able to get the bike back and arrest the thief within a short period of time. “When we have a bait bike theft, we would like to recover [the bike] within minutes of it being taken,” explains Chapin. “The purpose of making the arrest is we’re able to get the person who stole it instead of a secondary person who’s riding it.”
Spread the word & collect intel
The success of the bait bike program is two-fold: enforcement and education. “Our first year was the most successful from the apprehension/enforcement aspect,” explains Chapin. “Then it started to decline. People were really talking about it a lot. Thieves started talking to each other. Shortly after our program was launched, the City of Madison saw a significant decrease in its bike thefts also. There was discussion that our program impacted crime in their area as well.”
Swanson believes more arrests will lead to changes on campus. “If you have a high-crime area and police only come in to take the calls, people notice,” he explains. “Park police there and leave them there, people take notice. Hence the crime pattern will change. I think you could change the crime pattern if you consistently make arrests.”
Since deployment, UCSB’s bait bike has been stolen and recovered once. The recovery was a lengthy process because the device ended up in a residence. At the time, the department did not utilize video as part of its program. “Part of the brainstorming was determining how to utilize it,” Stern says. “It was a great learning device. We know now we need to put a video camera in the area and survey the area. It gives you a very accurate location, but without a look at the device itself we couldn’t know what the weaknesses and capabilities are.”
Another factor of enforcement is the intelligence value that comes from arresting the primary thief. “We will get to know the bike thieves,” says Swanson. “We’ve asked ultimately, where do [all the bikes] go? Many end up in pawn shops or on Craigslist, but we don’t recover most of the bikes that are stolen. If we were able to know who these people are, maybe we’d find out where the bikes are ending up. They aren’t going into thin air.”
