There's a proven way to stop bike theft. So why are so few cities doing it?

If you want to skip ahead to the solution (and miss the context 😉), go to: 14:40 Chapter 4: The Solutio

I found my stolen bike. It was in a police auction in the same building where I filled in a stolen bike report with its serial number.

Turns out Bike theft is stoppable by people(Local government/ police) actually treating it as a crime instead of just ignoring it.

When the state recovers your bike, does absolutely nothing to return it to you and then eventually auctions it (actually making a profit), I fail to see how it's not just another form of theft.

I have had four bikes stolen in Ottawa. The first and last time I called them about it they told me, "We won't look for it and if we find it we won't tell you." Finally! An honest cop.

The "proven way", disclosed twenty minutes in, is "a long term, community-wide, commitment to preventing bike theft".

This problem goes beyond bicycles ... Only once in my life I bought 4 new power tools. All 4 were stolen from my workshop while I was on the toilet. I took the invoices to the local cop shop. After 15 minutes I felt like a criminal idiot. The cop asked me questions about my family and employment situation and showed no interest in the invoices. He managed to dissuade me to ever report a theft again.

First bike stolen, a huffy BMX style, out of my back yard with a closed fence and dog-when I was about 10 years old. Must have been a neighbor kid. Second and third were bikes I used for my paper route when I was 12-14 - completely utilitarian with large frame and racks on them. Both times were locked in front of a supermarket. Fourth was stolen when I was in college, a nice mountain bike, when my roommate was doing laundry and left our apartment door open. I was talking a nap in my bedroom. All of these events impacted me heavily at the time, shaking my faith in friends, neighbors and humanity in general. I also suspect that bike theft may be a sort of gateway crime that encourages crime to escalate.

A few years back I found an obviously stolen bike abandoned on my property. I called the local police and they sent a car. The cop looked at the bike, shrugged and said "Just keep it, we have enough of them." I tried both the city and the county with no luck. Social media was not a thing back then, I did post a notice in the paper and still no luck. I ended up just giving it to a charity. I understand your frustration.

I've used a triple locking strategy with the idea being that a bicycle thief wants to do the dastardly deed as quickly as possible. A sturdy U shaped kryptonite lock to anchor the bike frame to something solid as well as a cable lock to encompass both tires and a Master lock with a five inch shackle to straddle the rear tire spokes to the bike frame. All I can say is that I never had my mountain bike stolen while using this strategy which I applied religiously even for the shortest stop at a store. I was willing to take the extra minute or two assuming that the bicycle thief wasn't. I like the registry and sticker ideas.

Can't get a warrant for a long running rumor about bike theft, but you can get a no-knock warrant to storm a house based on an anonymous tip (if it involves "illegal" drugs)

That's some terrible luck to have 3 bikes stolen within months of each other.

25:48 "It would have been recovered, but it wouldn't've got back to you, and it would've gone to auction." And maybe that's part of why police departments don't get onboard? Because it costs them auction money. Reducing this particular crime hurts their bottom line.

When talking about the registration of bikes and how this reunites owners with their recovered stolen bikes, Rob Brunt states that if you hadn't registered the bike, "it would have gotten recovered, but it wouldn't have gotten back to you, and it would have gone to auction." Do all cities auction off their recovered bikes? Auctions seem like a financial incentive to NOT get hundreds of stolen bikes back into the hands of rightful owners. Who stands to benefit from money collected at these auctions? Police Department budgets? City budgets? Charities? The auction companies surely must benefit. Do they typically sell at auction below their value? That would benefit the buyers who know about the auctions. Following the money might help to explain some of the perceived apathy...

As a married couple of 13 years, we've always had just one car (and I had a bike). Early on when I was attending university, I came out of my 1:00 pm class my bike was gone. I had thought I locked it up somewhere else so I walked around a bit trying to remember where I had locked it up but then I realized it had been stolen. I reported it to the police and luckily a classmate was walking out at that time and offered me a ride. It was devastating because that was my "car". I couldn't get to work/school/home without one. I borrowed my mom's old Schwinn for a few months. I'm 6'2" and the bike was much too small. I eventually replaced it and a few months later, the university police called me and they had recovered my bike. I consider myself extremely lucky but it is tragic when a bike goes missing. I wish it were treated more serious by cities/law enforcement.

The solution has been found in the 1920's. You put a licence plate (small!) on your bike that is divided in half. When you park your bike, you take away one half with you. Any bike running with just one half is suspect and police could check it out at any moment!

Cop after hearing 529 pitch: it'll be great sir, we'll be able to prevent so much crime and really serve the community! The chief: stoppin crimes not our top priority right now.

Whenever police say they are too busy with "serious crime" remember that most urban police departments spend 4% of their time on violent crime. So, yeah...

1:46 keep in mind that allot of folk who ride bikes aren't doing it for exercise or fun, allot of us ride a bike because that is what we can afford. losing it is more than a mere annoyance.

How many police forces still have "bike auctions" or otherwise have a revenue stream from the "disposal" of stolen bikes? Nothing stalls uptake like a perverse incentives.