Bike thefts jump 433% in January | iNFOnews | Thompson-Okanagan's News Source
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Kelowna News

Bike thefts jump 433% in January

According to the RCMP, bike thefts rose an astonishing 433% with 16 bikes stolen in January 2014 compared with only 6 in the same month of 2013. Police recommend riders purchase and use at least one sturdy bike lock.
Image Credit: lock8.me

KELOWNA – If you ride a bike in Kelowna, you'd better keep it locked.

According to the RCMP, bike thefts rose an astonishing 433% with 16 bikes stolen in January 2014 compared with only 3 in the same month of 2013.

Const. Kris Clark says that the increase is due in large part to the relatively warmer weather experienced this year.

“Warm weather means more people are out and more people are riding bikes.”

The biggest concern to police, says Clark, is that the vast majority of those thefts could likely have been thwarted with a simple lock. Approximately 90 per cent of the bikes that were stolen were unsecured and left in the downtown area.

Clark says he expects the numbers to drop significantly in February however, as 11 prolific offenders have been taken off the streets.

There are a few simple things that bike owners can do to keep their possessions safe, says Clark. He recommends bikes be locked to a bike rack with at least one anti-theft device and that owners keep a record of serial numbers for your property, especially bikes and electronics.

BikeRevolution.ca is a Canadian website that lets you register your bike for free, tag it using a Pulse ID tag and track it if it is stolen. A set of three Pulse ID tags will cost $14.95.

The website also allows users to search a database of stolen bikes organized by province.

To contact the reporter for this story, email Adam Proskiw at aproskiw@infotelnews.ca, call (250) 718-0428 or tweet @AdamProskiw.

News from © iNFOnews, 2014
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