On a campus infamous for bike theft, University bicyclists may rest easier knowing that the number of bikes reported stolen on and near campus has declined by 65 percent this year, according to Department of Public Safety statistics.
Eighty-four bikes were reported stolen between Jan. 1, 2005, and April 26, 2005. Twenty nine bikes were reported stolen during that same period this year.
DPS Lt. Herb Horner attributes the decline to increased bike patrol by DPS officers who have been more pro-active about approaching people on campus when they don’t seem like members of the University community.
“We make contacts when people are in areas where they have no business being,” Horner said. “If you’re just hanging around, you’re going to be contacted.”
“It started last October with any consistency,” Horner said. “This was the first time really that we had officers who rode even in bad weather, in the rain and freezing temperatures and stuff.”
Horner believes this increased contact acts as a diversion to many potential bike thieves. He also attributes some of the decline to the fact that several prolific bike thieves in Eugene are currently in jail.
Bike theft on campus and around Eugene has always been a problem, Eugene Police Department Sgt. Mark Montes said. Lane County’s meth problem plays a role in bike theft on campus, both Horner and Montes said.
“What drives most bike thefts here are drug users,” Horner said. “Lane County has one of the worst meth problems in the country. This is a quick fix. These guys literally swap bikes for drugs. There’s no money involved, they just swap bikes straight across.
“Last year, one of our officers and one of our campus-detail EPD officers made a contact here on campus,” Horner said. “Our officer saw the guy casing bike racks and followed him for a while.
“Then he finally saw the officer and was going to take off,” Horner said. “So he contacted him. In talking to him, (the officer) was able to start putting together an interesting case. He admitted that he was stealing bikes here and that there was a particular place – a residence that was not far from campus – that was taking bikes in exchange for drugs … I can’t remember the exact address, but it was probably five blocks from here.”
Bike thieves often exchange $700 to $1,000 bikes for as little as $25 worth of heroin or meth, Montes said.
Montes and EPD officer Dallas Hall both said bike theft prevention begins with bike riders recording their bike serial numbers, registering their bikes and locking them properly. DPS has been successful at preventing a lot of criminal activity on campus, Hall said.
“One thing’s for sure, the criminal faction … they don’t want to draw attention to themselves, and when they get contacted, that’s a deterrent,” Hall said. “They might not have been doing a crime right then. But, they know that DPS knows they’re there and they’re getting contacted, (so) they tend to move on.”
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