South Bend Bike Theft on the Rise
Posted by Henry Scott on June 8, 2009
Today’s Tribune contained an article about a rising incidence of local bicycle theft according to the South Bend Police Department.
I used to say, largely in jest, that one of the few perks of living in an area without a prevalent biking community is that bicycle theft isn’t a huge concern. But, there’s some truth to this: I frequently lock my most valuable bikes with nothing more than a $15 cable lock, whereas when I’ve lived in bicycle hotspots I wouldn’t even turn my back without securing them with a high-end U-lock.
Perhaps one negative consequence of more bikes in Michiana will mean more theft? I’m willing to take that risk, but seriously everyone– be careful with your bikes!
Bike Michiana 
Dave said
Are you kidding?
The article states that there were 17 bicycles stolen in May – compared to 3 the previous 4 months. Looking at a calendar would probably help – who wants to steal a bicycle in January, February, or even March?
At least the reporter could have done a year-over-year comparison, to attempt to pull seasonality out of the numbers. What was that saying attributed to Twain about statistics?
Henry Scott said
Based on the opening of the first sentence in the article, “Bicycle thieves, roused from long winter slumber…,” I think the author (and police) fully get your point about seasonality. My take was that this short article was just to remind people to lock their bikes.
I then made some idle speculation that perhaps one negative consequence of turning South Bend into bicycle mecca will be more theft…. and, yes, I was mainly kidding.
Adam Bee said
LoJack has been proven to reduce theft, and there’s no reason it couldn’t work for bikes. You’d just stick a small transmitter in the seat tube, and when/if the bike is stolen the police can activate the transmitter and track your bike.
Also decoy bike stakeouts often work. Cops can leave a bike unlocked, watch it for an hour or two, and then nab the jerkwad.
The great thing about those two is that they actually reduce theft or shift it to other jurisdictions, whereas strong locks just shift theft to bikes with weaker locks, with barely any effect on theft overall.
If all else fails, though, RFID tags have been proposed as a simple method for bike recovery: http://www.stolenbicycleregistry.com/rfid_tags_for_the_win.html
I don’t know if they’re really much better than registering serial numbers, though, but it never hurts to have all options out on the table.
Jennifer said
I think the quote Dave is looking for goes something like “Statistics is the art of torturing numbers until they tell you whatever you want to hear”.
What is LoJack? I like the idea of a GPS tracker, but I use a cheap cable lock, and have never had any issues (knock on wood).
Funny story: When I was a teenager, I rode my bike to work and parked it out front of the busy grocery store. One day my combination lock jammed, so my dad brought his toolkit over to help me get it unstuck. We ended up using a hammer and chisel to break the lock. Several people walked by, could clearly see what we were doing, and NO ONE said anything. Kinda sad.
PhilGE said
“What was that saying attributed to Twain about statistics?”
Figures often beguile me, particularly when I have the arranging of them myself; in which case the remark attributed to Disraeli would often apply with justice and force: “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics.”
– Autobiography of Mark Twain