What can be done to reduce bike theft?

robbarker

Following on from Hisoka's sad tale below, I would like peoples views and ideas about what can practically be done to deter bike thefts.

Thefts of newer cars have all but stopped, without keys at any rate, because the industry has started taking security seriously. Improved investigation by the police, in particular better use of forensic evidence, has brought very significant reductions in house burglary. Can aything similar be done to the world of cycling?

It seems that one of the main factors that deters greater cycle use is the threat of theft. If cycling is to flourish, bike theft needs to be tackled.

The police don't take it that seriously (although it's becoming more a priority now that it figures in one of their performance indicators) and the courts don't hand out significant punishments when people are caught.

It seems that stolen cycles are rarely recovered as well. Where do they go? Are they stripped and sold as parts? Are they sold on through free ads and noone ever identifies them? Serial numbers ground off or not recorded?

I have a few ideas - what do you think?

All bikes sold in the UK should have a stamped or moulded 13 digit identification number in the same way that vehicles have a VIN.

Retailers should have a legal responsibility to resgister cycles they sell on a national database, preferably the Immobilise database already in existence.

Insurance companies should be lobbied to provide affordable policies on condition that owners have a frame registered on the database in the manner above, have all main components etched with the bike's serial number and provide proof of purchase of an approved "sold secure" lock.

Local authorities to have a legal duty to provide secure bike parking facilities in town centres and at workplaces.

I believe that if a head of steam can be raised, and the likes of Future and Sustrans get behind a campaign, a big improvement in the cycle theft situation could be achieved.

mostly harmless

robbarker wrote:

Insurance companies should be lobbied to provide affordable policies on condition that owners have a frame registered on the database in the manner above, have all main components etched with the bike's serial number and provide proof of purchase of an approved "sold secure" lock.

How does this work when, for example, you buy a new pair of wheels for your good bike and move the existing pair to your winter bike?

robbarker wrote:

Local authorities to have a legal duty to provide secure bike parking facilities in town centres and at workplaces.

I aggree with this although, in practice, the only surefire way of ensuring your steed remains is to run a hack bike in such a state that no one would dream of touching it let alone nicking it.

Harry B

Some good points raised here but they raise further questions such as:
Who would pay for a registration scheme and what happens when the bike is sold? Presumably it would be registered to the new owner in the same way that a car is. But who would be the custodians of this information? There are all sorts of data protection issues. Secondly we pay a fortune to get out bikes as light as we can and I don't particularly want to carry around a bloody great lock with me when I go out.


I

Slow Downcp

I don't think anything will improve it drastically - frame numbers have existed for years, but because they're not visible they're unlikely to be tracked if being ridden.

The only thing you can do really is make sure you're insured - mine are covered upto £3k per bike on my house insurance as standard, and only need to be locked if left in public place by any lock, so it means I can just carry a small, cheap, light coil lock. Okay I'll still be pi55ed but at least I'm covered.

richa

Some theft facts...

> 439,000 bikes worth a total of £146m were stolen during a 12-month period between 2005-06, a 10% increase on the previous year

> Over 400k of the 20 million UK bike owners fall victim to cycle theft annually. Equivalent to one-in-every fifty cyclists having their cycle stolen.

> Today 52% of all bike thefts are taking place directly outside the home, for example from a garage or a shed. 14% of thefts take place from directly inside the home. However, one third of all bike thefts occur away from the owners’ property.

> Halifax reveals that 14% of bicycle claims it received in 2005 were for unsecured cycles.

STEFANOS4784

I've got a good idea, make sure your bike is never available to thieves!!! :P

robbarker

Slow Downcp wrote:

I don't think anything will improve it drastically - frame numbers have existed for years, but because they're not visible they're unlikely to be tracked if being ridden.

That is the attitude we have to get beyond. In the early nineties we resigned ourselves to the risk of having our car stolen if we left it in a city overnight. Now that perception has changed. It can change for bike thefts too if the right things are done. The question is what?

fossyant

It's not going to change - if you leave a bike, make sure it's well secured, no crappy locks, and make sure you use them properly.

Working on a Uni campus, I see so many poorly secured bikes, there is no wonder they go missing. If poss ask your employer to get secure parking (as well as using your own good locks).

peanut

the only way we are going to get the Insurance Companies to reduce the house- hold bike insurance cover premiums is to have a quality bike lock certificate scheme like cars have an immobiliser.
If you can produce a lock certificate you should be able to get a reduced premium on the basis that the lock manufacturer guarantees their lock with some sort of money back warrantee.
Maybe lock manufacturers should offer bike insurance cover if they are prepared to stand by their lock quality

Slow Downcp

robbarker wrote:

Slow Downcp wrote:

I don't think anything will improve it drastically - frame numbers have existed for years, but because they're not visible they're unlikely to be tracked if being ridden.

That is the attitude we have to get beyond. In the early nineties we resigned ourselves to the risk of having our car stolen if we left it in a city overnight. Now that perception has changed. It can change for bike thefts too if the right things are done. The question is what?

I'm not saying it's right, but just being realistic. If my insurance policy insisted on a 3kg lock whenever out of the house I'd look for difference insurance, regardless of the discount. Why spend £2k on a lightweight carbon bike and then have to lug a housebrick of a lock around. Car insurance is cheaper if you garage it every night, but how many of us do? I couldn't - my garage's full of bikes 8)

robbarker

Slow Downcp wrote:

Why spend £2k on a lightweight carbon bike and then have to lug a housebrick of a lock around.

You're right, of course.

What about a way of immobilising a bike that doesn't come with a weight penalty? Headset lock with chipped smart key? Bottom bracket lock? Use the bike's chain to secure it? I don't know the answer, it needs some fresh thought.

Slow Downcp

The biggest problem is that if a thief wants your bike that much, he (or she) will get it, no matter what you do. Cars with the most complicated electronic security devices go missing every day - the only thing you could do is fit a tracker, which would help you get it back at least.

peanut

you could attach a Tazer and set it to........ `nice n crispy' ........





just noticed we all joined around the same time :roll:

doog442

I can assure you all that some police forces are actively targeting bike thieves with a great deal of success...

they are just keeping it quiet which is the way it should be

robbarker

Slow Downcp wrote:

The biggest problem is that if a thief wants your bike that much, he (or she) will get it, no matter what you do. Cars with the most complicated electronic security devices go missing every day - the only thing you could do is fit a tracker, which would help you get it back at least.

New cars only gets tolen with keys these days, in the main.

robbarker

doog442 wrote:

I can assure you all that some police forces are actively targeting bike thieves with a great deal of success...

they are just keeping it quiet which is the way it should be

Which ones? I'd like to contact them to see how they are doing it.

hisoka

Interesting ideas, I haven't spent the large amount on a bike yet but I think I will be doing the brick lock myself from now on.
Also got to find better places to park up the bike too. I think the city needs more of the secure bike sheds that seem to be around, I think I've seen about 4 in total though throughout the whole city.

Tasers though, now that is interesting sounding...

CHRISNOIR

robbarker wrote:

doog442 wrote:

I can assure you all that some police forces are actively targeting bike thieves with a great deal of success...

they are just keeping it quiet which is the way it should be

Which ones? I'd like to contact them to see how they are doing it.

Manchester Police have been offering free electronic tagging for your bike. I think it's a device that goes down the seat tube - how effective this is I'm not sure.

synchronicity

I think you have to look at when & where theft is more likely to happen.

Are we ever bike-jacked? not likely.

Bikes are usually stolen when they are left locked up outside (meaning in view of a public street) for any length of time & espically overnight. Locks = complacency in my opinion.

Tom Butcher

So would it be considered complacent to leave your car in a public car park ? If we want bikes to be a form of transport rather than just recreation then it's important we can leave them locked up in a town centre, a station, outside a pub and be reasonably confident they will still be there when we return.

Anonymous

Where i live we have a great deterrant for bike thives it's called the U.D.A. if you have anything stolen , you just pop round to see a fellow and the stolen item tends to apper back in no time and some time's with the culprit limping a little

doog442

robbarker wrote:

doog442 wrote:

I can assure you all that some police forces are actively targeting bike thieves with a great deal of success...

they are just keeping it quiet which is the way it should be

Which ones? I'd like to contact them to see how they are doing it.

Im not really in a position to name these forces and if i did its highly unlikely they would pass on the information you require.However im sure they would give you appropriate crime prevention advice.

However the OP's point "Local authorities to have a legal duty to provide secure bike parking facilities in town centres and at workplaces." strikes me as the way forward.My LA have done it by supplying lockable bike bins in the town centre.

Its also worth noting that the majority of bikes reported stolen are actually left insecure and lets be honest why would the police fall overthemselves tackling a problem that is 99% preventable by the owner investing in a decent lock !

ps Interestingly enough car crime (theft from motor vehicle) still outweighs cycle theft figures massively yet many police forces have dropped vehicle crime as a priority...so not much hope for us cyclists just yet

tyrepressure

Sorry no answer to the problem just pissed off. My bike Specialized and my partners Bianci have both been stolen from our internal bike room in our block of flats in the last few weeks both were well locked. A couple of weeks later they came back and took our fold up commuter bike .
We live near Greenwich and I am told they sell the bikes at vauxhall market on saturdays. I am going this week to try and find them.

Why is the world full of such bastards?

Why are not the Police at these markets each week comparing the bikes with their lists?
( my frame was ident stamped )

Scrumple

There are tat sales all over the place, full of knock off goods.
The cops would never be able to do anything else.

And, you could seize the lot as suspected stolen, and yet 99% would be unmarked or impossible to prove as "stolen".
Even then, the seller would say they had bought it un aware! The cops would get your bike back, but no convictions. Think ebay, car boot, loot, pawn shops... Hours and hours of time for the Police. Who would be locking up the rapists?

Aint that easy! Sadly. Wish it was.

And, datatags or postcoding doesn't make theft less likely, it just makes recovery more likely. Thats if your frame isn't junked and your bits sold off on ebay.

The solution is to shoot bike thieves dead.

martinwitnam

Stop buying bikes and then people can't steal them.
OR get your wife/husband to follow you to work in the car and when you get there you can put your bike in the boot of the car and they can then take it home and at home-time they can meet you again and you can either cycle home or if you've had a particularly hard day you can flop into the passenger seat and be chauffeur driven home!

martinwitnam

Sorry about that last post but I'm sat at work bored and thought that it might give some-one a laugh!

A_Hacker

Like 18000 other bicycle users in the Greater London area this year I had my bike nicked. Anyway now the murderous red mist has started to clear, here are my thoughts. The sole reason for the horrendous level of bike theft in our city is that the perpetrators have absolutely NO chance of being caught & punished - ZERO.
BTW: the Met are bizarrely proud that their figures for bike theft have gone down by some 7000 bikes from 05/06 to the present 18000 - how they have the bare faced cheek to claim any credit for that only the Great Spirit knows.
When I went to report my bike stolen I didn't even get to speak to a proper police officer. The CPO who took my details (whilst constantly on his mobile gossiping with his mate) laughed off the theft like I was reporting a missing glove!
All around the world (US, Canada, Australia & even Brighton!) police departments employ 'bait bikes' with active trackers to catch thieves - the message to the petty criminals gets through, 'hang on, I might get nicked' thus bike theft in the area is massively reduced. Cut to London - what is the Met's strategy for reducing bike theft.....crossed fingers? Write to your MP, attend your community neighborhood committee (a police representative is usually present) and urge them to insist on more pro-active Policing re bike theft. I am considering fitting a tracker to my next bike, has anyone been down this route and have any recommendations or ideas?

A_Hacker

robbarker wrote:

doog442 wrote:

I can assure you all that some police forces are actively targeting bike thieves with a great deal of success...

they are just keeping it quiet which is the way it should be

Which ones? I'd like to contact them to see how they are doing it.

Brighton police have been trialing active tracking using 'bait bikes' with some sucess.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/sussex/7548762.stm

also gaining popularity in the States:

http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/1163 ... 08.article

http://www.todaysthv.com/news/ksink/sto ... 1&catid=70

My impression dealing with the Met is that it's all too much like hard work, it's easier
to pay admin assistants to collate statistics.

Le Commentateur

Pressure Ebay and other online market traders into not selling "secondhand" bikes.

Underlying the problem is that many people are happy to buy a so-called secondhand bike, "no questions asked", in places like Brick Lane.

The insurance industry probably like the fact so many bikes get stolen as it justifies increasing their premiums. :roll:

The bait bikes idea is attractive to the police, not because they want to recover stolen bikes specifically, but because people handling these stolen items are often involved in other more serious criminal activities, so places where these bikes are hidden may have more valuable (to the police) things to recover, like drugs.

Generally the few people caught with a stolen bike will get a handling/receiving charge, unless you can conclusively prove they cut the lock themselves or were present when it was taken - but it is important to report a theft, however unlikely it may seem at the time that anything will come of it. I know a number of people who have ultimately had their bikes recovered by the police, and anyway for all those who don't, not bothering to report the theft skews the figures and means "officially" the crime didn't take place (so the thief wins twice over).

doog442

Mr HACKER...

you are only quoting the police forces who have gone public with this particular tactic of using bait bikes. How do you know the MET arent doing the same?

You dont do you..you are presuming they arent because they havent advertised the fact.

Perhaps they dont want criminals to know their tactics..which makes sense doesnt it.

ps by the way i dont know what tactics they are employing but if cycle theft is going down, as it is in most places perhaps they are doing something

feel

what about an attended cloakroom thing where you hand in your bicycle and get a ticket then you get your bike back when you hand your ticket back. I have often thought that you could easily rig up a large artic lorry that could be parked in a particular designated spot outside football grounds (and other large events) - it could operate the cloakroom style ticket and you could then have large numbers of people cycling to football grounds so alleviating much traffic congestion. Of course you 'd have to have the lorries well regulated or some enterprising tea leaf could nick a 1000 bikes in one go

what do you think? would it work? (copied on to other thread on bike theft)