Bicycle theft - How to stop it?

[drbubb]

Avoiding bike theft - your thoughts

============

IT IS TIME to stop it !

 

 

With a new mayor in London who cares about the issue bicycle theft, isn't it time that something serious was done stop it? I envision a widespread programme, utilising bicycle decoys, with trackers under the seats.

 

A company, NavSpy.com, has system for tracking the bikes using the internet. So once they are moved and stolen, they could be followed by the police. The theives would be apprehended, fined, and charged. Publicity that this is really happening would help to deter future thefts.

 

I have had four bikes stolen in London over 8 years, and I think something really needs to be done. This could be a start.

 

 

(From various articles):

 

= #1 /

Cycle thefts in London have doubled in the past four years. We want to know about your experiences. How do you keep your bike safe and secure in the capital. Have you had you bike taken despite security measures?

 

More than 21,200 bikes were stolen in 2005/6* - double the number taken in 2001/2, said the Metropolitan Police.

 

Campaigners warn it could wreck plans to encourage more Londoners to travel by bike.

 

/more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/london/content/articl...s_feature.shtml

 

# 2 /

*Stats from another source:

11 Dec 2006 ... 80000 bicycles were stolen last year in London alone

/see: http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q...earch&meta=

 

== ==

 

BTW, I want to Buy or Rent a bike in London for one month.

(My previous one was stolen)

Anything on offer?

(Secondhand bikes): Gumtree : BikeExch-NttingHill : Halfords

 

= = = = =

 

LINKS:

BikeChatForums.... : http://www.bikechatforums.com/

QuickRelease.tv .... : http://quickrelease.tv/?cat=40

[drbubb]

mike

we now have tracking satelite tracking devices small enough to fit into a shoe, and send location coordinates to mobile phone or computer; someone should adapt them for bikes!

(from comments to above article)

=====

 

2/

I no longer leave my bike anywhere I can't see it for more than five minutes - unless it's in my flat, or locked up in the secure car park below The Independent's offices.

 

The sad fact is, this appears to be just about the only way to guarantee you won't get your bike nicked these days. Even spending 50, 70 or 90 on a lock, will not guarantee that you're protected from the most determined thieves. With the help of a little liquid nitrogen, a hydraulic jack or pair of industrial bolt cutters, you can get through just about any lock. Some of the older D-locks are actually very simple to crack open.

 

If you've got one of the old D-locks with a circular key, it's apparently relatively straightforward to open it using a Biro lid (there are dozens of demonstrations of this on You Tube, if you need to see for yourself). And even though most manufacturers have now discontinued these types of devices, I still have a few friends that rely on them.

 

When Boris Johnson got his own beloved Marin nicked two months ago, he wrote a blog on his website calling for greater use of tracker devices and decoy bikes - and it's good to know that he might make this a priority should he be successful in his bid for mayor of London

 

((James Daley "bike theft is a great business opportunity". Independent, The (London). Oct 2, 2007. FindArticles.com. 28 Jun. 2008.))

 

/see: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn41...02/ai_n21021379

 

=====

 

A London based friend of mine has such a device, and a great means to track it : NAVSPY

 

He wondering if anyone wants to have a bicycle decoy system to deter bicycle thefts.

He would love to find a way to meet the right person in Boris Johnston's office

[drbubb]

YouTube bike theft trailers: Send in the Seals

 

Alex Nott, a producer for ITV London, has released three video trailers for ‘Gone in 60 seconds’, a half hour documentary on bike theft in London. I did a news story on this programme on BikeBiz.com, July 10th.

 

/ http://quickrelease.tv/?p=150

==

 

QuickRelease / Contact us:

Benton Bridge Cottage

Jesmond Dene

Newcastle on Tyne, United Kingdom

NE7 7DA

Tel: +44 191 2652062

Email: carltonreid@mac.com

[drbubb]

Cyclehoop designer could scoop £20,000

 

Anthony Lau, a design student at the University of Westminster, created his Cyclehoop street furniture fitting in 2006. It appeared in the Reinventing the Bike Shed exhibition in 2006, will soon go on trial in London and could bag Lau the top prize in the new, Government-backed HSBC Unipreneurs Awards.

 

[drbubb]

The bicycle thieves | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk

Boris feels that the victim should not shoulder the responsibility for bike theft. He suggests we use tracking devices and decoy bikes to solve the problem. ...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/20...ebicyclethieves

 

thrifty anti-theft device is a rust sticker, which makes your shiny bike look like it's seen better days. Mud and clunky unattractive mudguards can also help to disguise the beauty of your bicycle.

 

Boris Johnson is quite sternly opposed to this type of ploy, "don't have a bike that's too flash, they say. Try painting it some depressing colour, like orange or purple". Boris feels that the victim should not shoulder the responsibility for bike theft. He suggests we use tracking devices and decoy bikes to solve the problem.

. . .

There are only a million regular cyclists in this country, and yet there were 439,000 bicycles stolen last year, and that is just the ones reported stolen.

 

==

 

=2/

 

Swifter than eagles. And stolen - Telegraph

By Boris Johnson

2 Aug 2007 ... She reported the theft to the police, then went to a Bicycle Exchange in West London to get a second-hand bike. Imagine how she flet when ...

 

All of which advice may be well meant, but somehow makes me pop with rage, because we seem continually to be ascribing responsibility for the event to the victim, and ignoring the critical point. It wasn't some supernatural agency that nicked your bike, or nicked my bike. It wasn't oompa-loompas or fairies or bike elves. It was thieves.

 

It was a bunch of cynical little sods who don't care a toss for private property, and it so happens that, on this occasion, I had taken just about every possible precaution. It was no ordinary lock I used to immobilise my machine: it was a huge steel thing made in Germany, as thick as a baby's arm, and I locked it to some railings and, as I stood back to admire my handiwork, I noted that both were far too thick to saw through.

. . .

Decoy bikes will be part of the answer; but the first step is to recondition society to grasp this elementary fact, that the problem is not caused by bad locks or weak railings. It's caused by thieves, and they need to be deterred.

 

/see: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jh...8/02/do0201.xml

 

= 3/

"During his oration Mr Johnson called for the use of "decoy bikes" to catch the thieves, and it would be delightful to see Mr Livingstone's career ended by such a device."

 

/see: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/156...ndon-mayor.html

 

 

== ==

 

 

MY SOLUTION;

 

Each time a thief is caught:

 

+ First time caught: he pays Pds.5,000 with Pds.,1,000 to the victim (+ the bike back),

and Pds.4,000 to law enforcemnt. Plus he gets a police record

(I am assuming the same thief has stolen 5-10 times before- & he should pay for

those past crimes.)

 

+ Second time caught: he pays Pds.10,000

 

+ Third time: Fines plus Jail (1 week?)

 

+ Fourth time: h@nging?? hand cut off? public flogging by bike victims? legs broken?

 

If underage: his parents pay half

[Toxteth Jack]

They could use some of the congestion charge to put loads of white bicycles into London, that would help.

 

Pick up the nearest white bike, use it and leave it when you're finished. A small team of engineers doing routine maintenance, maybe have a weird wheel size to avoid the tyres getting nicked.

 

 

 

[drbubb]

They could use some of the congestion charge to put loads of white bicycles into London, that would help.

 

Pick up the nearest white bike, use it and leave it when you're finished. A small team of engineers doing routine maintenance, maybe have a weird wheel size to avoid the tyres getting nicked.

 

 

There's something like that already.

At Hammersmith tube, you can rent a bike using a credit card

[No6]

Cyclehoop designer could scoop £20,000

 

Anthony Lau, a design student at the University of Westminster, created his Cyclehoop street furniture fitting in 2006. It appeared in the Reinventing the Bike Shed exhibition in 2006, will soon go on trial in London and could bag Lau the top prize in the new, Government-backed HSBC Unipreneurs Awards.

I can just imagine how popular that will be, a bike attached to every post/lamppost/street light in the country, in fact are there enough of them?

[stobar]

My tips to avoid having your bicycle stolen:

 

1) Don't buy an expensive bike! - ride a simple rig void of desirable (and often unnecessary) gimmicks.

 

2) Learn to ride a bike with a fixed gear - not only will it simpler, cheaper and easier to maintain (at the cost of being more difficult to ride) but it will again be less desirable and difficult to make off on in a hurry (if you are not used to riding one).

 

3) Use a quick release seat post and take the seat with you - it's not easy to ride a bike (especially a fixey) without a seat!

[drbubb]

My tips to avoid having your bicycle stolen:

1) Don't buy an expensive bike! - ride a simple rig void of desirable (and often unnecessary) gimmicks.

 

I'm only in London for a month, so I took this advice, picking up a bike for Pds.40,

which is a little more than the price of a good lock these days.

 

Let's see how long it lasts. Last year, the bike I had was stolen three days before I left.

That was good timing, I suppose

 

I am going to try writing an email to the Mayor's office, and see if they want to use Navspy

to track decoy bikes.

[frizzers]

I had a gorgeous Brompton nicked last year beneath a CCTV Camera outside Earslfied Station.

 

I knew within 20 minutes the time it was nicked and asked the police to review the CCTV.

 

The police refused to do this saying it was too expensive and the size of the crime did not warrant the police time.

 

I offered to look at the footage. They would not allow this of course.

 

I went to my local bike shop who had sold me the lock as 'thief proof'. They then said 'oh, nothing's thief proof'.

 

I made sure I didn't buy my next bike from them.

 

Now I have befriended the local Big Issue salesman. I make sure I buy the BI most weeks and he keeps an eye on my bike for me.

 

This is an example of

 

1. Huge state expenditure (all the CCTV cameras) amounting to nothing, police didn't even attempt to find thief.

2. Too much bs from a salesman securing the sale on a lock, but later eroding trust so losing the sale of a much bigger item, a bike.

3. The free market - me buying favours of the Big Issue salesman - (and the local free market) proving much cheaper and more effective than bloated, inefficient, uninterested state attempts.

 

I thank you.

[drbubb]

BIKE BAIT / (Such DECOY programmes have worked in the past):

=======

 

New sticker program will help prevent bicycle theft

posted by Joe on Tuesday, September 11, 2007 - Permalink

 

The U of T is expanding the Bike Bait program it started last year (where they stuck GPS tags on high end bikes and then tracked them as they were stolen), now adding stickers that say "this could be a bait bike" to make would-be thieves think twice.

 

Apparently, theft levels on campus have dropped from 2-3/week to 1/week! Great job!

 

/see: http://www.bikingtoronto.com/2007/09/new-s...lp-prevent.html

[drbubb]

YouTube bike theft trailers: Send in the Seals

QuickRelease / Contact us:

Email: carltonreid@mac.com

 

Today, I sent this email to Carlton Reid, founder of QuickRelease = = =

 

Hi Carlton,

 

I have enjoyed browsing thru your website, QuickRelease. I especially like one of your blognotes:

http://quickrelease.tv/?p=150&disqus_r...#comment-788696

 

What took me there was a search on Mayor Boris Johnston, and his plans to use bicycle decoys to catch and deter bike thieves in London. I think this is an idea whose time has come.

 

A similar scheme was used in Toronto, and it cut bicycle thefts by more than half. If it was used, and the risks for the theives were advertised, then there is a decent chance that bicycle thefts would drop in London too.

 

One thing that is new, is the availability of a new system for tracking decoy bikes. Once they are outfitted with GPS trackers, they can be tracked online through a new web-based tracking system called Navspy.com. This is a new business launched by Giancarlo C., a London based Anglo-Italian. The Navspy system could allow a person based in a central control room to track many decoy bicycles, left in multiple locations. Through a tie-in with Google maps, the system allows people to see where on the London map, any of the decoy bikes may be moved to.

 

At the moment, Giancarlo is trying to find someone in Mayor Johnston's office that may be interested in using the system. If used in a trial programme, with a certain amount of publicity backing its initiation, the programme could be an effective deterent. The eyeballs of the publkic might even be enlisted in tracking the thieves.

 

Do you by chance know anyone in the Mayor's office? Or perhaps a reporter or documentary-programme maker who mighht be interested in following the progress of the idea, as it unfolds.

 

Yours Truly,

[drbubb]

Trust no one

A Sacramento bait-bike program leads to an unlikely and unsolved mystery By Kim Mordecai

 

Mulder and Scully have nothing on Jason Cecchettini, the man behind Sacramento’s bait bike.

Just when we thought the X-Files were closed, David Duchovny has been spotted in Sacramento stealing expensive mountain bikes. Figure that one out, Mulder and Scully. Actually, it may not be the real Duchovny, but the Trek mountain bike the guy stole is the real deal, a $600 ride complete with a tracking device that allows law-enforcement officials to receive a signal and detect its whereabouts when the bike is stolen.

The bike has been pinched 11 times, which is not surprising considering it’s a pricey vehicle and bike theft is pretty common. However, this particular bike was stolen by the same individual twice, twice. Didn’t get that? Two different people stole this bike on two separate occasions each, and one of the thieves appears to be the X-Files man himself, a.k.a. Special Agent Fox Mulder.

 

Jason Cecchettini, the mastermind behind the bait-bike operation, installed the ProAct-IV in the bike, which is a tracking device similar to the popular LoJack system. Last March, Cecchettini began lending the bike to law-enforcement organizations interested in cutting down on theft. When Cecchettini created the bait bike, he had no idea that in addition to helping catch the bad guys, the bicycle would invite such bizarre coincidences.

 

In April last year, the bike was placed on the California State University, Sacramento campus, where there had been an increase in bike thefts. The bike was stolen at 11 a.m. and shortly thereafter was found with no suspect in sight. Several witnesses interviewed said the person who stole the bike looked exactly like the X-Files actor Duchovny.

 

A month before the Duchovny look-alike first struck, another white male about 18 to 20 years old with a heavy build and a goatee was arrested for stealing the bait bike from an apartment complex in North Sacramento. The bike was tracked to a home about a mile away, and while deputies parked in front of the house, the suspect came out and stood on his front porch. Deputies approached him and used an ultraviolet light to check his hands for an invisible powder used on the bike to help identify suspects. The man had a great deal of the bright-orange powder on his hands, admitted he had stolen the bike, and was arrested.

 

Some people just can’t leave well enough alone. This same suspect was then videotaped four months later stealing the bike from the same location, and, apparently, the second theft was not an accident. He generously left a note for the authorities scrawled in black crayon on the windshield of the truck the bike was in: “Thanks for the Trek. You got jacked U punk motherfucker. ... P.S. Good luck with getting your doors open.”

 

The suspect not only had filched the bike a second time on tape but also had wedged a piece of metal in both of the truck’s door locks and had punctured the left front tire seven times. As if that wasn’t enough of a temper tantrum, he then proceeded to dump the bike at a nearby apartment complex, where it was found sunk at the bottom of a swimming pool.

 

Cecchettini was not amused. “Bike thieves really piss me off,” he said, noting that the bait bike led to eight arrests during its first six months of use. “Everybody’s had their bicycles stolen, and there’s not a whole lot you can do about it. I do this to help catch these guys.”

 

 

Though the bait bike continues to be a fruitful operation, at least one mystery remains unsolved: Duchovny, or his doppelganger, made a mysterious return appearance. Four months after the first theft, look-alike sighting and mysterious disappearance, the bike was stolen again. After police responded to the tracking alert, one officer saw the suspect riding the bicycle. The elusive crook managed to slip away and then abandoned the bike on a nearby trail. When asked to describe the suspect, the officer reported that the guy looked just like Duchovny.

 

“Because of the similar time of theft, day of the week, location of the bike, witness description, etc., we believe that the thefts were committed by the same person,” said Cecchettini.

 

Though witnesses and police have provided solid descriptions of the Duchovnyan bike thief, he has managed to evade authorities twice and has yet to be tracked down for questioning. Who is he, and what does he want? As the bait-bike program begins its second season, all Cecchettini knows is that the truth is out there.

 

/see: http://www.trac-asia.com/news.htm

 

== == (other cities have copied the Bike-Bait programme):

 

= 1/

Victoria Cops and the Bike Bait Program

---------------------------------------------------

Austin 03-09-2006, 09:16 AM

Hi Gang,

I found this on Cycle-Licious this morning. It looks like the cops in Victoria are baiting bikes and catching bad guys in the act:

http://www.vicnews.com/portals-code/list.c...3&id=603472

Apparently there is a program in Sacremento that they were using as a model. I wonder how hard it would be to implement here?

 

= 2/

Bike Bait (anti-theft idea): Evan McAnney, Ward 3 DC resident presented his idea for implementing a bicycle bait system. After his fifth bike was stolen he searched for a lo-jack type device to deter bicycle thefts. During this search he found out about the DC police bait vehicles. A possible barrier to implementing a similar system for bicycles is that the MPD uses seven officers to monitor the bait vehicle. However, Sacramento police have been successful using a bike bait system with less staff. Publicity from this California campaign has reduced theft by 70%. It seems Mr. McAnney isn't the only one:

 

[Nicholas McKenna] said he had gotten fed up with the situation and recently placed a GPS tracker on the bike days before it was stolen.McKenna told News4 that he has pictures of the young people who stole his bike. In those pictures, the youngsters are riding around the neighborhood while smoking pot.McKenna said he also has pictures of them riding a motor scooter, which was also reported stolen in that area.

 

/see: http://washcycle.typepad.com/home/2007/05/...dc_bac_not.html

[jerpy]

I had a gorgeous Brompton nicked last year beneath a CCTV Camera outside Earslfied Station.

 

I knew within 20 minutes the time it was nicked and asked the police to review the CCTV.

 

The police refused to do this saying it was too expensive and the size of the crime did not warrant the police time.

 

I offered to look at the footage. They would not allow this of course.

 

I went to my local bike shop who had sold me the lock as 'thief proof'. They then said 'oh, nothing's thief proof'.

 

I made sure I didn't buy my next bike from them.

 

Now I have befriended the local Big Issue salesman. I make sure I buy the BI most weeks and he keeps an eye on my bike for me.

 

This is an example of

 

1. Huge state expenditure (all the CCTV cameras) amounting to nothing, police didn't even attempt to find thief.

2. Too much bs from a salesman securing the sale on a lock, but later eroding trust so losing the sale of a much bigger item, a bike.

3. The free market - me buying favours of the Big Issue salesman - (and the local free market) proving much cheaper and more effective than bloated, inefficient, uninterested state attempts.

 

I thank you.

 

If you stated you saw it from a distance and during the robbery one of the assailants threatend someone with a knife, they might just have given it a look. To me it's like small beer, so they are not interested. Beef up the crime, they take action seems to be the way. Mind my local rag would have put it on the front page!

 

[drbubb]

If you stated you saw it from a distance and during the robbery one of the assailants threatend someone with a knife, they might just have given it a look. To me it's like small beer, so they are not interested. Beef up the crime, they take action seems to be the way. Mind my local rag would have put it on the front page!

 

Zero Tolerance was the way that Guiliani beat crime in New York.

In effect, by the lack of action, bicycle theft is completely legal in London

 

[jerpy]

Pain in the backside and all that, but i know a guy who takes his front wheel of everytime he goes in to his place of work. Suppose it's not conveniant to everyone though. But he reckons with practise it only takes a few minutes. Mind you i can't imagine city type's doing this, prior to going into central London meetings for example.

 

Riggers

[creditcrunch]

I bought the cheapest looking old mans basket bike, it has 3 gears and i can still beat those mountaineering bikes on a london road.

 

Invent a paint release exploding seat device, if 5 or 6 pedals are made before entering a code the seat sprays the thief with sticky paint.

[drbubb]

I bought the cheapest looking old mans basket bike, it has 3 gears and i can still beat those mountaineering bikes on a london road.

 

Invent a paint release exploding seat device, if 5 or 6 pedals are made before entering a code the seat sprays the thief with sticky paint.

 

Great.

But what if it was triggered by accident, just before one of those key meetings in the city?

 

[Member100]

THe police simply do not care a whit,

hence bicycle theft is exploding.

 

If they did enforce more, then all crime in London would go down

[needmorespace]

I recently started bicycle commuting in London and given the huge crimewave my solution was to get one of these:

 

 

When I get to work there's no messing around with bike racks or locks - I take it right into the office and put it under the desk where it's not even visible to people walking past.

 

Frizzers - it's a terrible shame that your (inferior ) Brompton was nicked but my attitude to owning a folder is that I bought it so that I never have to leave it in an outside public place.

 

By the way, I bought my bike under the Cycle to Work Scheme which, for me, worked out at more than 50% discount. Check with your employers to see if you can take advantage...

[jerpy]

Posted on cycling thread, but this is what i was looking for, perhaps Dave should have read it too

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/low/uk_politics/7523144.stm

 

His spokeswoman added the Tory leader was "annoyed" and "pretty hacked off" at what had happened.

 

No doubt he'll back some of the idea's here when in power...... hands chopped etc

 

 

[drbubb]

Mr Cameron – who was photographed by a passer-by on a mobile phone after the cycle was stolen – said that he had reported the theft to the police but was not "holding his breath" for its return. Almost 20,000 bicycles are stolen annually in London.

 

"I was cycling home and stopped to pick up some things for supper," Mr Cameron said. "I chained the bike through the wheel then put it around one of those bollard things. I have reported it using the police's new online facility but I'm not expecting it back any time soon."

 

He also appealed to the thieves, thought to be a gang of teenagers, to return the bicycle. "If anyone has seen it I would very much like it back," he said. "To me it was absolutely priceless."

 

Local shop workers said that Mr Cameron had spent some time looking for the bicycle. One said: "He was embarrassed and a bit annoyed. He was going round talking to people asking them if they had seen it – most people didn't recognise him."

 

The Conservative leader is due to start his annual summer holiday in Cornwall this weekend. A spokesman for Mr Cameron said: "Obviously David is quite hacked off by the theft of his bike, especially having locked it up."

 

/see: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics...pping-trip.html

 

== ==

 

Every thief caught should pay 5x - 10x the value of the stolen bike as a fine.

Since many of these gangs are serial thieves, and a deterant is needed

[knavel]

I remember when I lived in Islington the chavs were taking the stolen bikes and hiding them on the roof of the building next to where I lived as it could be climbed onto relatively easily (and it was chavs as another neighbor in a higher building easily was able to witness everything). I even filmed the bikes up there and sent to the neighbors.

 

And of course the big no surprise: Police couldn't care less when informed.

[saving for a space ship]

http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/008228.html

 

Theft is a big problem on the Paris Bike-Sharing Program

 

Crunching Some Numbers on Paris Bike-Sharing Program

 

"On the first anniversary of Vélib, the Times dishes up some stats on Paris’ popular bike-sharing program:* Riders took 27.5 million trips in the first year.

* The current pace is about 120,000 trips per day.

* The program includes 20,600 bikes.

* The 1,450 self-service rental stations are available every 300 yards.

* The bikes are heavy and expensive — built to withstand theft, mistreatment, and heavy riding.

* Nevertheless, 3,000 bikes have gone missing, about 15% of the total