During the first week of the fall semester, students reported three cases of stolen bikes from the bike racks outside of the St. André Apartments and the Basil Moreau/Dujarie complex. In response to the incidents, the Vice President of Student Affairs and Administration Lisa Kirkpatrick, Ph.D., sent out an email to the student body that included a detailed report about the incidents, security camera photos of the suspect and advice on how students can more effectively secure their bikes on campus.
In the email, it was stated that at least two suspects were involved in the incidents, one of which is still being pursued by University Police Department (UPD), both of which were not found to be current students or associated with the university. Upon being presented with this information, junior Sajdah Hayes, a Resident Assistant for the St. André Apartments, mentioned that campus bike safety should go hand in hand with student safety on campus.
“It’s not even just about bike security, it’s about the access that other people that aren’t residents or students have to the campus because I feel like this is a space where we should already feel safe about our belongings,” Hayes said. “I feel like it should be a campus wide thing, rather than just bike security.”
Though three incidents have been recorded this semester, they are not isolated cases, as there have been stolen bike incidents in the past. UPD Chief Homer Huerta stated that stolen bikes have been a common occurrence on campus over the eight years he has served as chief, especially with the university being located in a big city and the use of ineffective bike locks.
“A lot of times, people who steal bikes find it kind of easy, because if the lock is not very strong and it’s something they can just cut through, they can take that bike and be gone,” Huerta said. “There’s been bike thefts on this campus before pretty much consistently throughout the years.”
It is encouraged that students with a bike get it registered at the University Operations Building, in which UPD will engrave a form of student identification, such as a valid driver’s license, onto the bike to ensure the student’s ownership. Additionally, a registration number and sticker will be issued to your bike to make it more identifiable if it were to be stolen. Other recommendations for better securing bikes on campus are the usage of U-locks, a more heavy-duty lock that is more difficult for thieves to break.
In wake of the recent thefts, Huerta stated that UPD plans to be much more vocal and active about the preventive measures students can take to better secure their bikes. Recently, officers have started going around while on patrols to check bikes, collecting the serial number, recording the make and model of the bike and leaving business cards to contact the officers to get a few more tips on how to keep their bikes safe. Huerta also stated that UPD plans to do tabling events in the Village and the Complex residence halls to make students more aware of the resources available to help prevent bike theft in the future and will also promote their resources on multiple campus media sites.
“We can do things like work with residence halls, we can work better with our social media outlets, the SEU safety, Twitter (X) and Facebook, Instagram page, to get some more information out there,” Huerta said. “And we would also like any input from students for more information.”
