Protect Your Bike from Thieves
Step one: lose the cable lock
Bike thefts around campus dropped by 27 percent this fall compared to the same time last year. But bikes still vanish—10 were stolen last month, including 7 in one week—as mild weather has kept them in use longer than usual. The Boston University Police Department (BUPD) offers beat-a-thief precautions, starting with the types of locks riders should use.
Too many students are still using cable locks, which can be severed with bolt cutters, says Scott Paré, BU’s deputy director of public safety and BUPD deputy police chief. In fact, 61 percent of bikes stolen this fall had been locked by cable or chain, he says. Instead, the BUPD and the University’s bicycle safety committee recommend Kryptonite locks or Ulock. Splurge as much as your budget permits, Paré advises.
“The more money you invest in a lock, the better off you are,” he says.
Bicycles remain the most coveted campus target of thieves, with 32 bikes worth about $15,000 stolen this semester, Paré says. Locations suffering repeated thefts included 765 and 771 Commonwealth Ave., 610 Beacon St., and 91 and 140 Bay State Road.
Besides using better locks, officials advise riders to:
- Park smart. Use bike racks on campus, and particularly if storing a bike overnight, the indoor bicycle storage spaces. The latter are the safest bike parking spaces at BU, according to Paré.
- Register your bike with the University here. Each registered bike gets a numbered decal, making retrieval easier for the rider if authorities find a missing bike. BU’s Parking & Transportation Services has almost 3,900 bikes registered.
- Report suspicious loiterers or behavior around bike parking areas to BU police.
The good news is the drop in thefts. Paré says there were more bike thefts in September of last year than in all of this fall.
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