Bike theft on the rise again at UO

Although it's common knowledge that bike theft on campus is a problem, bicyclists should know their property is even more likely to be stolen this year.

Sgt. Chris Phillips at the Department of Public Safety said the bike theft rate has increased at least twofold since spring term.

"Just over the past week we've caught four or five," said Phillips.

Ryan Feuerstein and Courtney Thayne were arrested Wednesday night by Eugene police for attempted bike theft. David Large and John Maurer were arrested Friday night for the same offense.

Phillips said if the trend continues, the number of thefts throughout the school year could climb to that of past years when bike theft was at its peak. He said when DPS hired him in 2004, there were "a couple hundred" over the course of the year. The number of thefts decreased in 2005 and "last year, we were down to 100 or less," said Phillips.

Most of the bikes that have recently been reported stolen were unregistered bikes.

"They're going after the ones without the permits on them," said Phillips. "This is a new trend. Up until this year, bikes registered to U of O were getting stolen as much as the others."

Phillips said the three most important things a student can do to protect his or her bike is to lock it with a U-lock rather than a cable, to write down the bike's serial number in case it is stolen, and to register it with DPS for free.

The registration never needs renewal, said DPS Parking and Transportation Services Director Ken Boegli, because DPS has never cleared any of the University's registered bikes from its database.

Registering also prevents bikes from becoming impounded by DPS. Boegli said unregistered bikes that have sat on campus for extended periods of time are tagged as abandoned and, if they aren't claimed in the next 30 days, they are impounded.

"We have 5,000 square feet of storage space taken up by these bikes," said Boegli, "and my intention is to have some sort of bike auction to get rid of them."

Boegli's predecessor used to ship abandoned bikes to charitable organizations at the end of the school year. Boegli had considered doing the same, but transporting the bikes would cost a hefty fee and he would rather "benefit the University community." Proceeds from his planned auction would help fund University bike programs.

"I think it's a good idea because it would be using the problem of impounded bikes to correct the problem of abandoned bikes," he said. "I want all students to have an opportunity to get a bike, because my primary focus is on alternative transportation."

Campus isn't the only area thieves target. The entire city of Eugene is a victim to bike theft, said Kerry Delf at the Eugene Police Department. In 2006, 677 bikes were reported stolen within the city. In 2005, bike thefts almost doubled that amount at 1,180.

"This stuff goes up and down a lot," said Delf. "There's no 10-year trend or anything like that."

Delf said that 104 of the 677 reported bikes were stolen in the campus proper, and 97 of them were stolen from the West and South University areas. More than half of the reported stolen bikes were from non-University parts of the city.

Delf said that everyone with a bike should lock it securely, no matter where it is.

"If you're going to be in the store for two minutes, lock your bike," she said. "My husband had his bike stolen off our back porch. It happens really fast."

Delf said EPD's bike recovery chance is less than 15 percent because many people never call to claim them.

"If your bike is stolen, we urge you to report it to police immediately so that you can get it back," said Delf. "We want to get them back to people."

jkimball@dailyemerald.com

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