Bike thefts in Columbia raise concerns
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
A bike shop owner says reports of bicycle thefts increase with the return of college students.
Co-owner of Cyclex, a bike shop in Columbia, Brian Kukla says he notices reports of stolen bikes go up during the school year. He believes it is due to the high volume of bikes downtown and on campus, not being locked properly.
"If it's going to be overnight, we recommend a full U-Lock, which is super thick hard steel," Kukla said. You could technically get through, but you'd need a pretty serious power tool. if it's just during the day and you're going to class or a coffee shop, a cable lock is usually fine," he said.
According to a spokesperson from the University of Missouri's Police Department, there 28 bike thefts reported in 2021 and 11 so far this year. According to her, the best course of action is for students to register their bikes and other valuables using the serial number found on items with MUPD through their website, using the "Property Protection" page. This allows MUPD to have a more accurate record of who property belongs to, and in the instance stolen property is recovered, it is already known who it belongs to and where to return it.
Kukla also has a list he keeps with descriptions of stolen bikes and their serial numbers people have called in. He keeps this list in the event somebody brings a bike in to sell that potentially matches the description of a reported missing bike.
"If we confirm it on our list of stolen bikes, we'll delay that bike, maybe have that person that brought it in leave it with us for a day or two," he said. "We'd tell them were going to look it over and see what it needs before giving it an estimate, and then at that point get the police involved if we believe it's stolen."
The university isn't the only place to register items. In Columbia, a bicycle registration system is in place to insure that lost, stolen, or recovered bikes can be returned to the rightful owner of the property. The Columbia Fire Department, working with the Columbia Police Department, offer this service between the hours of 8 a.m, and 6 p.m. throughout the city. Bikes can be brought to any Columbia Fire station and registered there. The owner fills out a simple registration form, and a registration sticker will be attached to the bicycle.
According to Kukla, the sticker is hard to remove and takes a lot of time and patience. From there, the registration card will be sent to the police department and filed. If a bike is lost, stolen or found, the sticker will help police find the rightful owner.
If a bicycle is not registered and stolen, it is recommended to call the police department and provide a detailed description and the serial number in case the bike turns up.
In the event a bike is stolen, it is important to call 3-1-1 right away, filing a police report. After that, Kukla recommended to call local bike and pawn shops, providing the serial number and description to the shop owners so they know to keep an eye out for the stolen goods.
Bicycle thefts fall under the category of property crimes, but do not make up the entire number. In 2020, 3,326 property crimes were reported with only 432 of these cases being solved in Columbia, according to the FBI's Uniform Crime Report.
