Arcata Offers Bicycle Theft Prevention Tips
This is a press release from the City of Arcata:
It is estimated that over 2 million bicycles in the United States are stolen each year, and the Transportation Safety Committee would like to share the following bicycle theft prevention tips with the community:
● Take down your bicycle’s serial number, and make sure you have a picture of what it looks like. This could help locate your bike if it is stolen.
● Register your bicycle with the Arcata Police Department or the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office. The bike’s serial number will be entered into a national database, and if a bike is listed as stolen property, law enforcement may have an easier time tracking it down.
● Secure your bicycle simply by taking it inside whenever possible.
● Always remember to lock your bike, as most bicycles are stolen when left unlocked.
● Cable locks can be easily broken, so they are not recommended. Use a case hardened u-lock, a hardened steel chain lock or a folding lock whenever possible, since they are more difficult to break.
● Use a lock on both the front and back of your bike’s wheels.
● Always lock your bike to a designated bike rack or a solid object, and be sure to double check to make sure the lock is secured.
● Lock your bike in a highly visible, well-lit area.
● Do not leave your bike in one place for too long, be sure to check in on it and move it regularly. If a potential thief sees your bike in the same place every day, especially during certain hours, they will have a good idea when they might be able to get away with stealing it.
● Do not leave anything on your bike that can be easily removed. For bicycles with quick-release wheels, lock both wheels and the frame to the rack. Remove easily detached items, such as packs, pumps, lights and clip-on fenders before leaving a bicycle unattended.
If a bike is stolen, please call the Arcata Police Department to report the crime at 707- 822-2424. For additional bicycle resources, please visit cityofarcata.org or the Humboldt Bay Bicycle Commuters Association’s website at humbike.org.
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I personally like the method of the guy that left his bike leaning against the electric fence.
I too have had a fair share of bikes stolen but locally was more disgusted by the lack of concern or response at least by one HSU police officer ~2 years ago. I live up behind the HSU dorms and the police could care less about bikes being stolen regularly and repeatedly from the same locations literally steps from student housing (behind and next to the dorm doors lit bike racks) during the school semester. I tried to ask for the footage of the only night it was left there from any security cameras and he on the phone said there weren’t any around there when I said there are a few on the Giant Jolly Commons building facing towards the dorms he dismissed my investigational intent. It wasn’t even a new looking bike but it was a rare old skool dual suspension trek y3 that I regret to this day leaving it there locked in haste. I walk by there a few times a week and cut locks always seem to liter the whole area. Similarly my friend had a newish big box store bike with U-lock stolen from a lit dorm square commons bike racks which every room looks down upon. again the police rebuffed his attempts at trying to actually identify the thieves coming or going on camera. What is the point of the few security cameras and provided bike racks if the police won’t even attempt to thwart these thieves with even an occasional old fashioned bait bike or stake out? Instead by ignoring these thefts, out of an assumed fear of implicating students and then forced to punish them, they have only emboldened them to bring larger bolt cutters and take multiple bikes in one go. I get it, I understand, no one wants to expell a wayward freshman for stealing a bike but ignoring a problem for fear of where it may lead is the more serious societal harm in my opinion. As I told them I’ll just have to do it myself one of these days and make sure to upload the footage of the bait bike intentionally falling apart underneath them like some of the footage om YouTube.