Stolen bicycles a growing problem
Last Thursday the dedicated staff of our exhibits and maintenance sections, along with our practicum student from Lethbridge College, were preparing seized bicycles to be sold at auction. Lethbridge, like the rest of Alberta and all other cities in the Prairie provinces, has seen a spike in property crimes since the onslaught of the opioid crisis and the downturn of the economy.
It was unexpected what I saw as I arrived at the bike compound — row upon row of bicycles leaning on each other with their police tags blowing in the wind awaiting pickup to go to auction. I observed everything from children’s bikes to a tow behind carrier but the overwhelming majority were adult bicycles of all makes, sizes and ranging from low to very high quality.
I was surprised to see how many bicycles we are unable to reunite with their owners. I asked our staff what their observations have been with the bicycles we recover in large part due to the efforts of good citizens who call us to let us know about a found or abandoned bicycle. They were very candid that this past year has been the worst they have ever seen. We have never had this volume of seized bikes. I want to share this with you the reader in hopes that we can re-unite more people with their bicycles.
Part of the problem is a trend we are seeing with our bicycle thieves where the stolen bike is quickly painted over with a cheap paint job so as to obscure the decals that show the name or model. Others have the high quality parts removed and cheap replacement parts added so what was once a distinguishing feature is gone. But the largest problem we have is the majority of victims of a stolen bicycle are unable to give much of a description of their bike. They can provide a colour and maybe a make but sometimes the make is confused with the model based on whatever decalling is prevalent and what the owner can recall.
I am writing this article this week to urge bicycle owners to take the time to record their bicycle’s details. In this day and age, the quickest and easiest way to do this is on one’s mobile device. Take the time to take a picture of the bicycle from different angles so that the make, model and colours are clearly visible. Find the serial number that will be stamped in the metal somewhere on your bicycle frame and take a photograph of it — make sure it can be read in the photo or give it a caption with the serial number. I also suggest that the info or images be backed up at a secondary location as well in the event you lose your phone.
Another practical suggestion I have comes from a great Sergeant at my first police service who had come from England where he served as a police officer. He told me the story of how bicycles were a common and practical mode of transportation there decades before the emergence of this trend in Canada and so the theft and recovery of bicycles was common place as well. He suggested to me that one should go beyond the make, model and serial number and make a distinguishing mark of their own on the bicycle — one that could not be easily seen or removed. It should be specific and take a photo of it as well. For example, a stamped or carved series of letters, numbers or symbols in the frame in a very specific part of the frame that is a specific number of centimetres from another piece of the frame that is rigid and cannot move. The odds of somebody “coincidentally” having XXZZ123 carved inside of the vertical shaft of a frame, the series beginning 20 centimetres from the base of the frame are slim to none. This can help the police in two ways: firstly to prove it is stolen property and secondly, perhaps more importantly — to reunite the bicycle with its owner.
Please keep these tips in mind and take the time to snap a few pictures of the bicycles in your residences, garages and sheds. Thanks to all of the citizens who report abandoned bikes and have reported suspicious activity that has led to us recovering stolen bicycles through our investigations. Your help is sincerely appreciated.