Grand Theft Bicycle

By TOM MULLEN

It’s another beautiful, sunny afternoon and you just finished your last class of the day and are ready to go home and relax. Bike lock key in hand you head towards the spot where you locked up your bike.

It isn’t there. Must have just forgotten where you actually parked it – but the feeling of dread in your stomach continues to rise as you frantically scan the bike racks. Finally, the realization washes over you like a shower of hot sparks. Your bike has been stolen.

In 2010, over 747 bikes were stolen in Fort Collins and bike theft is seen as the city’s number one crime according to the Fort Collins police department. The numbers for 2011 are currently unavailable.

“It definitely is an issue but it’s definitely more prevalent on CSU’s campus,” said a representative from the Fort Collins police department. In 2009 there were 196 bikes stolen on campus. In 2010 the number dropped to 140 and in 2011 it shot back up to 190 according to the campus police department’s records.

Graduate student Cory Robinson is a victim of this crime having his Trek Utopia, a bike with a value of $900, stolen from just outside the Clark C building on April 19.

“I have class Thursday nights from 6 to 9, that night it was 9 o’clock I come outside and my bike is not there,” said Robinson who even though had his bike locked up with a steel chain key lock, still fell victim to theft. “They clipped it completely off.”

Robinson talked to the police but there was really nothing they could do as he had not registered his bike’s serial number with campus police a practice that is required by campus specifically in case of theft. Luckily Robinson’s bike was covered under his renter’s insurance and he was reimbursed for the bike.

Joy Childress, the university’s Bicycle Traffic Education & Enforcement supervisor, explained the importance of registering bikes. “It’s much easier to have a stolen bike returned when we have the serial number because we can enter it into the NCIC,” she said. NCIC stands for National Crime Information Center and is a huge database for information pertaining to reported crimes. If a stolen bike is recovered, authorities can cross-check information to find its rightful owner.

“Most the time I’m just really drunk, it’s really late and need a way to get home,” says an individual who has stolen five or six bikes over the course of his three years at CSU and has chosen to remain anonymous. He only steals bikes that aren’t locked up and insists it’s something he’s not proud of.  “If I could remember where I had taken them from I would gladly bring them back,” he said

Last week our thief claims to have taken 5 stolen bikes in his possession and donated them to the ARC thrift store. He claims that if he were walking on campus with a stolen bike and the owner came up and confronted him he would honestly say “hey man it’s yours, sorry for taking it.” However, as of now he has still yet to be caught in the act or with a stolen bike.

Even if you lock up the frame of your bike, your wheels are still susceptible to theft. As experienced by junior geology major Madison Lytle. “I had the wheels on my bike stolen from outside my apartment about a year ago,” she explained, “They were really expensive tires, they were road bike tires and at the time I didn’t have the money to replace them.” Lytle now keeps her bike inside at night instead of locking it to the bike racks outside to be sure something like this never happens again.

With the wheels and the frame secure one might think their bike is protected from theft. Think Again. Junior landscape architecture major Mitchell Tancik always has his frame, wheels and seat secure but had his handlebar grips and bike lights stolen off his bicycle over spring break. “Sadly these were fairly expensive and were gifts from my parents,” said Tancik, “but I was able to replace them and decided to get some less expensive grips and removable bike lights to help prevent them from getting stolen.”

It is estimated that over 1.5 million bikes are stolen each year in the U.S. according to the National Bike Registry. They suggest that the best way to secure your bike is with a strong steel U-lock combined with a cable to secure the wheels. “The more time and trouble it takes a thief to attack your bike the less likely it is that your bike will become a theft statistic," they state on their website. 

Most bikes are stolen on campus during the months of May, August, September and October according to Joan Williams, the record manager for campus police. She states that when students go home for the summer in May, a lot of them leave their bikes on campus. “We impound the ones left on campus after a week or two but that span of time is when they’re basically ripe for the picking,” said Williams. Students are required to pay an impound fee of $15 in order to retrieve their bike from authorities. August-October is when the massive inflow of new freshmen and their bikes occurs on campus and is the other time when most bikes are reported stolen.

According the Fort Collins Bike Co-Op, less than 5 percent of stolen bikes are returned to their owners and this is “largely due to lack of reports,” as stated on their website. Bikers are strongly encouraged to register their bike and to report it to campus police if their bike was stolen on campus, otherwise with the Fort Collins police department if they find themselves victim to theft.