Register and lock your bikes to stop
theft
Krista Naposki / News Editor
Campus Safety and Police wants to encourage all Elon
bicycle-riders to register their bikes and lock them up with
a good device.
Campus Safety and Police wants to encourage all Elon
bicycle-riders to register their bikes and lock them up with
a good device.
Bike theft is consistent with last year's number of
stolen bikes; 14 bikes have been stolen this year, compared
with 13 bikes that were stolen last year at this time of the
year.
"I'm not a happy camper," Dan Ingle, campus
investigator said, "I don't want any thefts on
campus. It's an issue."
Most of the bike thefts occurred within the Sept. 25 to
Sept. 29 weekend and Aug. 29 to Sept 1 weekend, but they have
continued sporadically.
They occurred at random places on campus, including Moseley
Center, Danieley Center residence halls, Barney residence
hall, Harper Center, Staley residence hall, Loy Center and
Long business building.
The first weekend of school there are always a few robberies
because students don't realize they need to lock their
bikes, Chuck Gantos, director of Campus Safety and Police.
Last year, campus police recovered six out of 13 stolen
bikes from the beginning of the year.
Ingle thinks that the perpetrator is a novice thief, not a
professional, because the bikes are different price ranges.
"Sometimes they would take a $50 bike when there's
a $800 bike standing next to it," Ingle said.
In some cases, an experienced criminal will steal many bikes
from area schools and then pawn them in another region.
Ingle is checking pawnshops in Burlington and Greensboro. He
has also asked for help from other officers in Alamance
County.
Officer Darrell Gantt said all students should register
their bikes for free. They only have to register once for
their four years at Elon.
By registering, Campus Safety and Police has a record of the
serial number of the bike. If the bike gets stolen, the
police can input the bike's serial number into the NCIC,
the National Crime Information Center.
Then, if a pawnshop receives the bike and looks it up in the
NCIC, they must report back to the police that the bike is
stolen and return it.
Students should buy a U Bolt lock. The U Bolt is horseshoe
shaped and made of thick metal. The bikes that have been
stolen have skinnier metal, and though they may look tough,
are easy to cut through with wire cutters that someone can
get from Wal- Mart, Gantt said.
"Because of the price of gas and the fact that west
area (of campus) is not allowed to drive, a lot more bicycles
are on campus," Gantt said. "That's a good
thing. We're adding bike racks to cover the added
quantities."
Contact Krista Naposki at pendulum@elon.edu or
278-7247.
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Krista Naposki / Photographer