Bicycles: One of the most stolen items in Vancouver.
For Vancouverites, bicycles have become a key mode of transportation. Riding a bike provides not only an easy way to get around, but it’s also a good cardiovascular workout! With events like the Ride to Conquer Cancer closely approaching, biking is continuing to emerge at the forefront of events and social media.
Unfortunately, this is not the only trend becoming apparent in Metro Vancouver.
There’s another emerging lucrative field, according to the Vancouver Sun, “it may be an industry you may not have heard about, although chances are if you ride a bike you have been affected by it. It is a multi-billion-dollar business, and an industry that sends off side effects that also cost a lot of money. It is the “second-hand bike” industry, better known to those that have suffered from it as ‘bike theft’.”
You may think your bike is safe outside a popular coffee shop or local grocery store, but you better think again.
A Vancouver Police Department media release from 2012 states “Vancouver Police are advising the public of a recent increase in bicycle thefts in the city. Between January 1st and May 31st, 554 bikes were reported stolen, as compared to 338 in the same period last year and 490 in 2010. The southwest portion of Vancouver and the downtown core are being targeted most heavily.’’’
These numbers only account for those thefts actually reported to the Police. As bike thefts continue to rise and growing hotspots in Vancouver have also become evident.
For example: “The library, in fact, is one of the worst places in the City of Vancouver for bike thefts, with 79 bikes stolen from the 300-block of West Georgia between 2008 and 2012. The only area worse is Granville Island, where roughly 250 bikes have been stolen over the same period.”
The city’s other bike-theft hot spots also tend to correspond with the places where the most cyclists lock up most: City hall (68 thefts), the YMCA on Burrard Street (59), Science World (45) and Mountain Equipment Co-op on West Broadway (41).
Vancouver police spokesman Const. Brian Montague believes that bike thieves — who may be on the lookout for a particular bike, or a particular lock they know how to defeat — are attracted to the places with the biggest selection of targets.
“The most obvious explanation for the increase in bike thefts is that more people are biking as the number of dedicated bike lanes in the city increases.
A report that went to Vancouver city council last June estimated, based on TransLink trip diary data, that the number of trips by bike in the city increased more than 40 per cent between 2008 and 2011.
Yet bikes also seem particularly vulnerable to theft.
Even though the crime rate has reduced over the years in Vancouver, bike theft still remains a challenge. It can be unpredictable and difficult to trace. You may see your ride being advertised on Facebook or Craigslist.
“Montague said police are doing their best to fight bike theft. If someone notices their stolen bike for sale online, he said, police will do their best to help them get it back.
“We get quite a few calls where the owner says, ‘I found my stolen bike for sale on the Internet,’” he said. “We’ll pose as potential buyers. We have officers in plainclothes who are able to do that. We’ve been quite successful in retrieving several bikes that way.”
Police don’t recommend people try to arrange such meetings on their own, as Kayla Smith famously did last August — racing off with her own bike after arranging to meet the seller in a McDonald’s parking lot.
Vancouver police also have a bait bike program, modelled on its successful bait car program, in which some bikes are outfitted with location trackers.
Unfortunately, the reality is and will remain, that most people will never see their bikes again.
Police recommend locking your bike at all time. Lock the frame and they wheel to the bike rack. A U-Lock is recommended.
Take a photo of your bike and the serial number. Be proactive and take precautionary measures. Be aware of the risks and do your best to counteract them. There is no universal solution to prevent this, but you can work to reduce it.
