In an ongoing effort to increase the recovery rate of stolen bicycles, Campus Police is continuing its anti-theft program today by offering a round of mass bike engravings. According to Campus Police, larceny, or the taking of another’s property without consent, is the most common crime on campus, constituting more than 80 percent of all crimes committed.
The bike engravings – which include a serial number as well as the owner’s driver’s license information – are part of a larger program incorporating the issuance of permits and registering students in a database designed to deter thieves and aid police in recovering stolen bikes. The program is available at no cost to encourage student participation and can be done at any time through Transportation.
Despite these efforts, students still have doubts about the bike program and measures to prevent campus theft in general.
“The bike registration is pointless,” Syrena Huynh, a freshman in aerospace engineering, said. “Unless there is a way to actually track down the bike – say electronically – locating a stolen bike by checking every engraving would take too much time and effort.”
With bikes and other personal articles like laptops, Huynh said it is up to the owner to take responsibility to secure belongings by properly using a good lock and common sense.
Captain Jon Barnwell of Campus Police advocated the need to use proper security measures – namely a u-bolt lock for bikes and anchors for laptops – but also said the registration program should not be underestimated.
“Because the crime rate in our area is already relatively low, it is easier for the police to devote more resources to programs like bike registration and to enforcing these programs,” Barnwell said. “Compared to the national average, our police department has a higher recovery rate of stolen items.”
Barnwell cited a situation at the beginning of the school year where two people were caught in the act of stealing bikes. A search warrant was issued and a large number of other stolen bikes were liberated in a bust. The bikes were returned to their rightful owners thanks to the registration program.
Matthew Adams, sophomore in food science, said he applauded the efforts of Campus Police to give everyone an extra layer of security and piece of mind. “[The engraving] is free right? So it can’t hurt,” Adams said. “Between the bike description and the engraving, if the police are driving down the road and they see it, chances are the owner will get it back.”
Adams said as a safety measure there is no reason not to take advantage of it.
Barnwell said the engraving and registration can be applied not only to bikes, but also to other valuable articles like laptops. Timely reporting of stolen articles can result in an immediate police-led search of the local area. Otherwise, every registered item is issued an “owner applied number” which is recorded in a national database and can be cross-referenced to items appearing in local pawn shops, Craigslist, and eBay. While Barnwell said the recovery rate for more valuable items is lower than the police would like, it is important to note that searches for registered items have a greater chance of success than searches based on description alone.
