Seven bicycles have been reported stolen from Carleton’s campus since the beginning of May, according to university safety community liaison Mark Hargreaves.
The reports came from different locations on campus, from different times of day, and were scattered throughout the month of May, he said.
“The investigations are still ongoing,” he said.
Determining whether the reported bike thefts are linked will be part of the investigation.
The bikes were secured to bike racks by cable or chain locks, Hargreaves said.
“We believe that the locks were cut, using simple tools such as bolt cutters,” he said.
As they are easily cut, the department advises cyclists not to use cable locks or chains as their primary lock. The suggested method is a “U-lock” secured to the rack and passed through the frame of the bicycle and rear tire.
The department also suggests removing the front wheel and locking it to the back, as well as removing items such as saddle bag, seat, and lights.
Hargreaves recommends that students register their bicycles in the free, online University Safety bicycle database.
Bike owners register their name, email address, student number, address, and the description of their bike, including frame, colour, make and model. A serial and reference number is then engraved onto the frame of the bicycle.
“In the event that a bicycle is stolen that is on the registry that information is available to us to identify,” he said. “Our reports get entered into [the Ottawa Police Service] database, so in the event that a bike is recovered, the bike’s serial number is available and the bike can be returned to its lawful owner.”
“There’s a good number of bicycles that are recovered . . . that the police can never identify who the owner is,” he said.
Hargreaves said that, for those with expensive bicycles especially, the program is also useful for making insurance claims.
537 bikes were registered in university safety’s database as of May 23, Hargreaves said.
He said the department is looking into improve the safety of bike racks through “natural surveillance.”
“Cyclists should lock their bicycles to bicycle racks in high traffic areas,” he said, adding that high-traffic areas are the source of few stolen bike reports.
Carleton University Parking Services also provides a secure bicycle lock-up by the Athletics facility. The area requires swipe card access, another deterrent to thieves, Hargreaves said.
