THE PENDULUM

by Corey Groom, November 3, 2009

The increased use of bicycles on college campuses, including Elon's, has resulted in a rising number of bike thefts.

For many students, their bikes are a crucial form of transportation. But a new Web site, KarmaArmy.com is working to help reduce the thefts of bicycles.

KarmaArmy.com was created by Senan Gorman to recover stolen recreational equipment on college campuses and in communities around the country.

On the site, members can create a free profile to register all the pertinent information for their gear — serial numbers, descriptions, photos and location. If the item is stolen, the member can send out a Karma Alert, which notifies users in the same geographical area of what was stolen, where it was last seen and its identifying features.

This alert helps create a virtual search party for the stolen gear, as well as a virtual community watch.

The site was launched in August, but has done little in terms of marketing, according to the company's marketing director, Howard Brodwin. The company decided to have a soft launch to work out bugs in the site before making a major push for membership.

The Farmington, Conn.-based company held an event to sign up college students in the Boston area, which Brodwin said was a success.

He estimates the Web site currently has about 500 users.

"Since we haven't done any marketing to get the word out, we're happy to see some interest," Brodwin said.

The company started by targeting college students because of the large number of bikes on college campuses and because many students rely heavily on their bikes for transportation.
"If that bike gets stolen, that is a huge, huge problem," he said.

At Elon, four bikes have been stolen this academic year, according to Dan Ingle, a public investigator for the Elon Campus Police.

In years past, there has been a slight increase in how many bikes were stolen, possibly reflecting the increased bike use on campus.

Fourteen bikes were reported stolen in 2007-2008, and 20 were reported during the 2008-2009 school year.

Ingle said in most cases the bikes were not stolen to be sold, but to simply get from one place to another on campus. KarmaAlert.com allows participants in biking, skiing, snowboarding, kayaking and other action sports to create a profile listing important information about their property.

"Everything on here is free," Brodwin said. "There is no charge to create a profile, no charge to send out a Karma Alert and there are no plans to charge for the services."

Brodwin said he hopes the decision to offer the service free-of-charge will help attract a large number of users, especially college students.

Elon senior John McGreevy, who had his homemade skateboard stolen near Lindner Hall on Oct. 24, said he likes the idea of the services.

"From the accounts of such disgustingly self-centered acts as theft from your fellow classmates, our campus is in obvious need of more community and camaraderie," he said.

The company is also working to establish networks with law enforcement agencies and campus securities to directly feed information to them in the event a member sends out a Karma Alert. Having this link could help increase response time and is one of the issues the company is working on and hopes to have available soon.

While not required, Ingle recommends students who bring bicycles to campus register them with Campus Safety and Police.

"(Registering) gives us the opportunity to have documentation on the bike," Ingle said.

Brodwin said prevention is one of the purposes of the site, which offers several user-posted videos on how to properly lock up a bike and about the different locks available to bikers.
"We want to help with recovery, but more important is prevention," Brodwin said.

Brodwin said the company hopes to create more communities, which will present relevant thefts to the geographic areas, as well as increase users.

"The goal is to have it be a nation-wide site," Brodwin said.

McGreevy echoed the sentiment Gorman felt when his bike was stolen — anger and the feeling of wanting to do something, such as forming a community to prevent others.

"In many ways, I am embarrassed to go to school with people who would steal from one another in order to get minimal personal gain from the expense of another person," McGreevy said.