An Uptick in Bike Thefts

 

 

• As many as 11 bike thefts have been reported in the past few weeks.

• Some say the police respone is less than satisfactory; local RCMP says they are working on leads, and watching local criminals.

By Gagandeep Ghuman
Published: July 3, 2013

About three weeks ago, two people broke into the storage locker located under Jim Morris’s house.

They walked past five other bikes, including another ‘super nice road bike’ and took his bike, a Santa Cruz Nomad, worth $5,000.

“It’s like they knew what they were looking for, and at the very least, they knew it was the best quality bike amongst others,” Morris said.

That is just one story among many others circulating in our community.

In the last few weeks, as many as 11 bikes thefts have been reported, most of them expensive mountain bikes.

On June 17, police received a report of three mountain bikes having been stolen from a residence in the 2000 block of Jay Pl., sometime in the past two weeks. 

The bikes had been stored behind the residence, unlocked.

Stolen were a men’s 27 speed, black, Giant Reign free ride bike, a lime green, Norco ESC cross country racing bike, and another men’s Giant downhill bike, black in colour.

The next day, an officer saw a 25-year-old Squamish resident riding a bike that matched the description of one of the stolen bikes. 

The bike was seized and the investigation is ongoing.

A few weeks before that, three bicycles were stolen out of a garage on Government Road.

In one instance, thieves cut open the lock of a specialized $7,000 mountain bike that had been locked on to a patio.

Recently, police also responded to a bike theft in progress, and arrested two people, whose search also yielded methamphetamine and stolen ID.

And then there was the incident at a local bike shop, where a scamster tried to rent out a bike with the intention of stealing it.

He paid for the deposit with a credit card, gave his number, and went his way.  

After the rental hours, the bike shop owners tried calling him, but there was no answer.

The number he provided was not working.

The bike was gone.

The police were called, but they weren’t quick to respond, according to the bike shop owner, who didn’t want to be identified.

After much sleuthing of their own, the owners found a number for the scamster’s girlfriend.   

A few hours later, they found out he had dropped off the bike at a bike shop in Vancouver, ostensibly for repairs.

The bike shop was able to recover the bike, and the police are now looking to lay a criminal charge.  

The bike shop owner is far from satisfied with the police response.

“We had to do our own sleuthing to find the bike,” he said.

“There needs to be proactive policing and stiffer penalties for bike thefts.”

Jim Morris also said the police response was standard, ‘not great but not bad either’.

“They mentioned that there is a lot of this going on,” Morris said.

Morris is disappointed, however, at the response of the local insurance company.

They were very quick to remind Morris that he would lose all no claims bonuses for three years and face a 15 per cent increase in premiums each year.

“Where was the, “Hey that sucks your bike got stolen, let’s see if we can get some coverage for your loss.”

Sgt. Wayne Pride of Squamish RCMP said the mountain bike thefts are as much of a police priority as anything else.

“We are watching local criminals and working on some leads,” Pride said.

He said the police would like to remind bike owners to record and retain the serial numbers of their bikes so the retrieval can be more efficient.