Theft of bikes is a real issue, with thousands being stolen across the Humberside Policing area every year. This is one area where crime prevention can have a massive impact and a small personal investment can drastically reduce your chance of becoming a victim.
Top Five Tips to prevent cycle theft:
1. Never leave your bike outside your house or in your garden unlocked. Ideally store it in your house, particularly if it is worth a lot, but if you have to keep it in a shed or garage make sure the shed or garage has a good quality lock and block out any windows. Don’t just leave your bike in a shed or garage, lock it inside and consider locking it to a cycle anchor that is bolted to the wall or floor.
2. Good quality locks make all the difference when it comes to the theft of bikes. Spend a bit of money on a decent D-lock and you will really reduce the chance of your bike being stolen.
3. If you are leaving your bike in the street, where possible, use well-lit cycle stands that are fixed to the ground and lock both your frame and your wheels to the stand. If there are no stands lock your bike to secure street furniture like railings and lamp posts.
4. Lock your bike in places where there are plenty of people and ideally a spot covered by a CCTV camera.
5. Think twice about posting ‘track My Ride’ app results or pictures of your bike on social media sites, especially if your home address can also be viewed. Most Track My Ride apps have settings which stop within a given distance of your home address. Check your security settings and set at least a 1000m exclusion zone around your house.
To assist the police in recovering and returning stolen cycles, owners are urged to register them onto www.Immobilise.com. Cycles can easily be added onto the property register and then this assists the force in identifying a cycle as stolen/lost, bring offenders to justice and stop the cycle being sold via second hand stores. The system can also allow you to upload a picture, which can then be used as part of appeals to locate stolen cycles.