Decline in bicycle thefts continues
Initiatives such as Project 529 have led to what looks like the fourth year in a row of declining bike thefts in Vancouver, according to statistics from the Vancouver Police Department.
Data compiled by police show that there were 3,131 thefts city-wide in 2015.
That dropped to 2,655 in 2016, and 2,199 in 2017.
This year, there have been 1,200 bike thefts between Jan. 1 and July 31. That is a drop of six thefts from the same period last year.
Project 529 is a bike registration and recovery program started two years ago in Vancouver.
Const. Rob Brunt spearheaded bringing Project 529 to Vancouver after looking for bike recovery apps.
He was contacted by J. Allard, creator of the program known as 529 Garage in the United States.
“We have maintained these great results while reaching out to our ‘bike theft’ victims requesting that they make a VPD report as well,” Brunt said by email. “We initially were only seeing three out of 10 ‘victims’ make a report. We now are in the six to seven out of 10 area.”
Project 529 is in 30 cities and municipalities in B.C.
In Metro Vancouver, only Burnaby and Coquitlam are not part of the program.
Allard said there tends to be an increase in reports of bike thefts during the summer.
What tends to happen is that the increase is due to the number of recreational riders unfamiliar with the best locks and locking technique.
“There is definitely the opportunistic uptick that happens every summer,” Allard said from Bellingham.
Anyone who downloads the Project 529 app on their phone can get alerts about stolen bikes if the theft takes place within a 16-km radius.
“In general, we’re seeing fewer bikes go missing, and we’re getting a lot more bikes back to owners because of the 529 program and co-operation with the VPD,” Allard said.
“It really has been a great program.”