Thinking about taking that expensive-looking bike someone left outside a local store? Consider yourself warned — somebody just might be watching.
Earlier this year, the Davis Police Department’s Special Assignment and Focused Enforcement (SAFE) team launched a “bait bike” program in response to a sharp increase in local bicycle thefts — up 56 percent in the past year, with $105,000 in property losses during 2015 alone.
Police have received an average of 64 bike-theft reports per month since Jan. 1, compared to 41 per month in 2014 and 33 per month in 2013, according to statistics compiled back in March.
“I don’t know if it’s a regional thing, but it might not just be us,” Davis police Lt. Paul Doroshov said of the alarming trend.
In an attempt to curb the local thefts, police began deploying bait bikes — two of which were donated by the Davis Bicycles! advocacy group for the cause — in high-traffic areas around town.
Then, they wait. One bike was stolen within five minutes of being left as bait, though it can take several hours before someone seizes the opportunity. Once the thief rides off, he or she is stopped and detained by officers.
“We catch serial bike thieves and opportunistic bike thieves who also commit other crimes,” Doroshov said. As a result, “word will spread through the community, and hopefully deter people from future thefts.”
So far, the bait-bike operations have netted five arrests, none of which have involved first-time offenders, police say.
One suspect was a habitual bike thief, another a known drug dealer. Officers also nabbed a suspect in a recent vehicle burglary — still carrying the computer he reportedly took — and a convicted felon with a loaded firearm.
The alleged bait-bike thefts added a felony grand theft count to their other charges, based upon the high value of the allegedly stolen bikes. The threshold for grand theft is a loss of $950 or more.
“What we really want to get is the guys who are out here every day, doing this for a living,” said one Davis police officer, who asked that his name not be published because of his undercover work with the bait-bike operations.
The officer says he notices a distinct change in a suspect’s body language just before a theft.
“It’s completely different,” he said during a recent stakeout in downtown Davis. “They’ll walk around and keep staring at it. It’s like they’re saying in their head, ‘Should I or shouldn’t I?’ ”
Eventually, police hope to expand the bait bike program to deploy several bicycles at once, as currently is done in larger cities such as Sacramento and San Francisco. The Sacramento Police Department has reported a 25-percent reduction in bike thefts as a result of its operations.
In the meantime, Doroshov said bike owners can help reduce thefts by securely locking their bicycles — inside a house or business, if possible. In the event that a theft does occur, having the bike’s serial number handy brings a quicker return should the property be recovered.
— Reach Lauren Keene at lkeene@davisenterprise.net or 530-747-8048. Follow her on Twitter at @laurenkeene
