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Bike theft is a major barrier to more cycling, delegates have been told at the Steering Clear of Cycle Crime Conference being held today in Birmingham. People can better protect their bikes by spending more on theft prevention, police speakers at the conference have said. Cycle owners should spend at least ten percent of the value of their bikes on locks, said one speaker.
The conference, hosted by West Midlands Police, is organised by Bike Register in association with British Transport Police. This is the third annual staging of the conference. The majority of the delegates are police officers from around the UK, and they are sharing good practice on how to deter and detect cycle crime.
Demonstrating that, if nothing else, bike thieves are persistent, delegates were shown this viral video of a man attempting to steal a road bike from the back of a moving car.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdiZxl79zU4
Transport for London’s Sarah Burr said 12 percent of cyclists in London have been victims of bike crime and that this is one of the key barriers to getting more people to cycle.
Gumtree’s Fergus Campbell told delegates of the steps the local small ads site was taking to prevent the sale of stolen bikes, but added that despite the prevalance of bike theft Gumtree had seen a reduction in the number of data requests from police forces.
Our Cycle Conference with @BTP hosted @WMPolice has started. We'll be hearing from speakers from forces across the U.K. Follow #cyclecrime17 pic.twitter.com/GLdu7Og0fK
— BikeRegister (@bikeregister) July 4, 2017
