15,000 Bikes Stolen In Chicago Since 2010 (And Barely Any Have Been Found)

UPTOWN — Since 2010, 15,259 bikes have been reported stolen to the Chicago Police Department.

Only 62 have been reported found.

"The problem is most bikes aren't registered with the city, so our chance to recover it is pretty slim," said Sgt. Jason Clarke, a community policing commander in the Town Hall District.

In Chicago, bikes are often swiped from high-traffic areas near CTA stations or along the North Side lakefront.

For the full article go here: https://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20160420/uptown/15000-bikes-have-be...

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Permalink Reply by Kevin C Dormant on April 20, 2016 at 4:44am

Ahhh. Bike Theft....

Since 2010, year to date, the Chicago Stolen Bike Registry has had 5826 reports of bike theft (plus another 46 reported parts thefts).

The statistics are remarkably similar for how bikes are stolen; i.e. 60+% of stolen bikes every year are unlocked or locked only with a cable lock. Roughly 6-7% of reports every year are of bikes locked to a bike rack or the increasingly rare parking meter with a newer u-lock with flat key. We also report a much higher recovery rate (145 recoveries, about a 2.5% rate).

For 2014, we had a 2% decline in reports to the CSBR (2013-1136 thefts; 2014-1011 thefts). There are a lot of factors at work on our gross numbers, and I don't draw any conclusions about an actual increase or decrease in theft rates. Bike Index has a function for reporting thefts now and there's a Facebook page called "Find Stolen Bikes" which is pretty active. Some of the CSBR reports are dual listed, but some are not, so it would appear that some of the CSBR volume is being siphoned off.

I do draw conclusions about rates of types of thefts however, and it would appear that victims aren't getting any better at securing their property and in some instances are getting worse. For the first time since I started tracking these statistics (2010) more than 60% of the CSBR theft reports were of bikes that either weren't locked or were locked with only a cable lock (60.34%).

Only 6.43% of reported to the CSBR were of bikes which were locked with a Newer U-Lock with a flat key to a Bike Rack.

Recovery rates for stolen bikes remains abysmal. In 2014, it was a little over 3%.

Here's 2013's report for comparison purposes:

So it looks like there are still bike thieves in the City of Chicago and that bike owners are still determined to make it easy for them. We had a modest increase (5%) in reports to the Chicago Stolen Bike Registry in 2013 after a whopping 42% increase from 2011 to 2012. The spreadsheet for the period of 2010 through 2013 is attached, but the numbers that stick out for me:

59% of thefts reported to the CSBR last year were of bikes which either weren’t locked (26.5%) or were locked with only some form of cable lock (32.6%).

Another 27.6% of reports to the CSBR were of bikes with a locking method identified as “Other.” The “Other” category has been a topic of discussion in past threads because this is sometimes an option selected by the victim and sometimes an option selected by the CSBR admins. Victims are asked to select "Other" when no lock was cut or broken to steal the bike, and admittedly, this fact is sometimes difficult to ascertain with any degree of certainty. The admin protocol is to make the change when the narrative makes it clear that a lock wasn't defeated to steal the bike. "Other" includes by way of example, bikes which were only locked to themselves (regardless of lock type); bikes which are locked only through the front wheel (regardless of lock type) and the bike is stolen by leaving the wheel locked to the rack and taking the rest; bikes which were locked (regardless of lock type) to a sucker pole, wooden or iron fence, and the object which it was locked to was obviously broken or defeated.

Only 4.4% of reports to the CSBR were of bikes locked to a bike rack with a newer U-Lock.It’s that easy to minimize your risk of being a theft victim.

Register your bike. Write down your serial number. Take a picture of your bike. Don’t lock your bike and leave it in a common area that other people can access. Don’t lock your bike with some form of cable lock as your only security device. Don’t lock your bike to a fence or a sucker pole. Don’t leave your unlocked bike in front of a store, on your back porch, in a garage or in a yard. Bike thieves can and do climb fences and stairs.

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Permalink Reply by Yasmeen on April 20, 2016 at 4:51am

If registration is the issue, would it be better and easier for the bike to get registered right at the point of sale at the bike shop? It strikes me this is possibly a missed opportunity. If you are buying a new bike, it's a good time to think about the following purchases and follow-up:

1. Register the bike online

2. Locks and asking if they are familiar with the best way to lock the bike

3. Lights - front and rear

4. Repair kit with pump

5. Helmet

Great time for a follow up - do they know how to change a flat?

Anything else?

I think bike shops assume we all have these items and know what to do but the excitement of new bike day can easily have us forgetting to take care of these items - esp. the registry. When my niece bought her bike, a checklist like this would have been helpful and we could have set her up with a repair kit which she needed right away when she flatted (we ended up going to rescue her). 

Permalink Reply by Kevin C Dormant on April 20, 2016 at 5:08am

For a lot of people, "new bike day" doesn't include a trip to a bike shop. Many "new" bike sales are in fact resales. Many bike shops do record serial numbers of new purchases. Some bike shops go out of business. Fewer than 30% of reports to the CSBR are by people who know their serial number. Registrations with CPD drop out of their registration system every 2 years or so. It takes less than a minute to take a photograph of your serial number (usually underneath the bottom bracket). Then, if you ever need to know what your serial number is, you can look it up on your smart phone.

Permalink Reply by Jaik S. on April 20, 2016 at 5:47am

When BikeIndex launched on Kickstarter, I was more than happy to back them. I believe having a universal nationwide registry for bicycles is something that we need. Sometimes bikes get shipped to other cities after they're stolen and then sold. According to the BikeIndex website, Chicago has quite a few places that automatically register bikes for you on BikeIndex. The list includes many excellent small shops like Bike Lane, Comrade, Yojimbo's, Heritage, and Ancien. See the attached image for the list or visit this link for their site.

I like their site because you can manage bikes yourself and transfer ownership if you sell it.

Permalink Reply by Yasmeen on April 20, 2016 at 6:01am

All good points. Maybe part of the issue is the lack of communication and knowledge around it? 

I've bought bikes from shops on this list and they didn't mention that my bikes are registered. 

Kevin brings up a good point - used bikes (especially when sold person-to-person) fall outside of this process. 

The stats on cable locks are pretty bad. How are so many people unaware of how bad those locks are?

Permalink Reply by Jared on April 20, 2016 at 6:19am

Cable locks seem to be the norm in suburban areas and apparently are sufficient enough that thats what gets used.  I used a cable lock for a decade and never had any trouble until it was parked outside UIC. 

Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on April 20, 2016 at 7:02am

I see way too many bikes locked with cable locks in my neighborhood, including bikes left all day at Metra stations. Some of those are really skinny cables that could probably be snipped with a wire cutter.

We don't have a huge problem with bike theft in the neighborhood, but it's increasing. Most people seem rather clueless until their bikes get stolen.

Permalink Reply by Dave Jacque on April 20, 2016 at 7:58am

So where are all these bikes going? Sold to scrappers for 10 cents a pound? Or are there really *that* many awful people knowingly buying and riding stolen bikes?

Permalink Reply by Jaik S. on April 20, 2016 at 9:20am

After the recovery of a stolen bike in Chicago, I was informed that some of the thieves store them in a warehouse for a few years. It's basically to wait until the heat is off of them so they can resell them. There were a few shady bike shops around, including one that used to be by Parsons Chicken. I believe that my last stolen bike will reappear sometime late this summer, if it follows that pattern and the same pattern of the one I had stolen before it. 

The first one, I didn't think that since I only had one neighbor that their kid would take it from inside the building.

The second one, I didn't think someone would come into my back yard on a saturday at noon and rip apart my grill while I ran inside for a few minutes.

Basically, I've learned that bike thieves will go anywhere and do anything and your bike can be stolen easily and quickly if its out of your sight for more than a few minutes. Even if it's inside. 

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