St. Edward’s University is in the midst of a string of bicycle robberies.

Twelve bike thefts have been reported so far this semester, in comparison to the three thefts that were reported in the last academic year, according to the St. Edward’s Police Department.

“We like to think it is not St. Edward’s people,” UPD Officer Alice Gilroy said.

Gilroy said police believe the same people are responsible for all the bike thefts.

However, Gilroy said bike owners are making the thefts easy. Bikes not secured properly or not secured at all are the targets of the thefts. Stolen bikes either had no lock or had one that is easy to break.

“The best thing a student can do for themselves is get a good quality U-lock,” Gilroy said.

Other than being unlocked, some stolen bikes were not parked in the bike racks. Gilroy said students should take the time to lock their bikes and park them in the bike racks in order to avoid thefts.

Some students said they do not have the time to lock their bikes.

“I use a bike because I’m going [to be] late,” Melissa Valle, an international freshman student from Nicaragua, said.

UPD is working on making students more aware of the circumstances and starting new programs to lower bike theft rates.

“We think we are doing as much as we can,” Gilroy said.

Police are encouraging bike owners to register their bikes with UPD. Each bike comes with its own serial number, which manufacturers engrave on the bike. Students can bring their bikes to UPD who will continue to log the bikes’ serial numbers and engrave the students’ drivers license numbers on their bikes.

Registering bikes with UPD ensures that police can keep track of the bikes and their rightful owners. It also means that, if it is stolen, the theft can be reported statewide. In addition, serial numbers can help to identify bikes that are sold in pawn shops.

“It falls down to owner responsibility,” Gilroy said.

It is hard to find stolen bikes, especially if they are not registered. Police are stopping suspicious-looking people, but UPD has no way of proving who the owners of the bikes are if they are not registered.

Patrols are still circulating 24 hours a day and seven days a week, but UPD is giving special attention to bikes. During every shift, officers walk through the bike racks, count the bikes and call to report improperly locked bikes. Once police have reported faulty locking, they try to find the owners of these bikes in order to warn them about bike security.

“We are shorthanded,” Gilroy said. “But it won’t affect our investigation.”

Registering a bike with UPD helps prove ownership, and students who do so have higher chances of getting their stolen bikes back.

“It’s a pretty good idea,” Valle said about UPD’s bike security actions.

UPD plans to implement a mandatory system of bike registration, including bike decals, starting in the spring. Bike decals would help link bike owners to their bikes and would work much like St. Edward’s parking passes do.

UPD also has future expectations of implementing the bait bike program.

Other universities around the country have already planted bait bikes, which are outfitted with a Motion Activated Transmitter (an alarm), which is hidden within the bicycle. Clue Spray or paste, which is visible only when viewed under an ultraviolet light, covers the bicycle’s handgrips.

Once the bike is stolen, the alarm will go off, sending a silent tracking signal, and the suspect may be identified by checking his or her hands underneath an ultraviolet light for traces of the Clue Spray.

Gilroy said she hopes at least one bait bike will be present on campus by next semester. Besides the cost of the bait bike, the department will also have to pay a monthly fee for the tracking service that would alert police if the bike were stolen and direct officers to the thief.

“Hopefully we’ll get some funding so we can do it,” Gilroy said.