Bicyclists who ride mountain bikes and lock up on campus late at night with a cable lock should watch out for bicycle theft.
U police detective Clayton Binks has seen eight open bike theft cases in recent weeks.
“Almost every (stolen bike) I see has a cable lock that’s been cut or taken,” Binks said.
Every bicycle stolen over the past five weeks on campus was a mountain bike secured with a cable lock according to police reports. That figure is consistent with the general trend, Binks said.
Ten bicycles have been reported stolen since the apprehension of suspected serial bike thief, Pedro Verdejo, in mid-September. Campus police estimate that Verdejo’s bike theft career ran on campus for 14 months. Bicycle thefts are decreasing, according to Binks.
U police suspect the decrease could be related to colder weather or Verdejo’s arrest. Even as bicycle theft declines on campus, bicycles continue to disappear off racks, rails and poles, so a bicycle thief or thieves are still lurking, police said.
Susan Smith, a freshman in electrical engineering, approached the bike rack north of the Life Science Building after an early morning class to find her new mountain bike was not there.
“I locked it up with a heavy duty combination with a cable,” Smith said about her old bike. After the theft, Smith spent $400 on a new mountain bike and a new lock. “Now I put a cable through the front wheel and back wheel and the frame and secure that with a U-lock,” she said.
Some students, like Smith, decide to buy replacement bicycles. Daniel Bye, a freshman business major, paid about $1,100 for his bike that was recently stolen from the bike racks west of the Widtsoe Building. Bye secured his mountain bike8212;the most expensive bicycle stolen within the past few weeks8212;to the rack with a metal cable coated in heavy plastic.
“I will be buying a bike to replace my old bike and keep that one indoors and ride a less expensive bike to campus,” he said. The step after buying a cheap bike for his campus commute will be to buy a very good lock, Bye said.
In the meantime, Bye longboards around campus and searches for his bicycle’s serial number, which might be his only chance of finding his stolen bicycle, Binks said.
Providing a serial number to campus police increases the chances of recovery, he said. Campus police will register bikes and any other personal property free of charge on their Web site. Bicycle registration is voluntary on campus, but Salt Lake City law requires bicycle dealers to license new and used bicycles.
When reporting his mountain bike stolen, Cody Martin, a medical student, provided campus police with the bicycle’s serial number, but said he still has no hope of a return. Martin occasionally borrows a replacement bike from a family member, but does not feel comfortable leaving the bike locked up late at night. Of the 10 bicycles stolen recently, more than half were stolen either late at night or early in the morning, according to police reports.
Bicycles might be easier to steal than cars, but the effect on the commuter is often the same.
Martin said he now rides the bus and shuttles. “It takes more time to commute, and I do not have the freedom to go as I please.”
In some cases, the theft of a bicycle affects more than the bicyclist’s commute.
Yuesong Wang, a doctorate student in Materials Science & Engineering said, “I bought the bike one week after I came here from Beijing. It was just like a friend of mine. But I know its return is almost impossible.”
Bicycle theft on campus is geographically sporadic. Binks said students need to be careful securing their bikes at all campus locations.
Anna Kartashova A single tire is chained to a bicycle rack near the Garff Building. Some of the hot spots on campus for bike thefts this semester have been south campus drive and central campus need the Library and Union building.