West Seattle Blog reports that police in the Southwest Precinct are concerned about what appears to be a growing number of stolen bikes in the area.
So be sure to secure your wheels, even if it is parked in a locked garage.
With reader reports about bikes found as well as bikes taken, West Seattle Crime Watch has featured more bicycle-theft reports than usual lately (with one even caught on camera). And Southwest Precinct‘s Sgt. Joe Bauer confirms to WSB that it’s a heightened concern. How to thwart these thieves? For one, he warns that bicycle owners need “to secure their bicycles in the underground parking garages. We are getting a lot of stolen bike reports that seem to be mainly on Avalon and in the North Admiral and Alki areas. We have had some on Fauntleroy too. I’d like to remind folks that the bikes are not secure just because they are in the garage. Lock them up or, better yet, keep them in another location in the building if possible. If the bike won’t fit in the condo or apartment, folks can always take the seat and front wheel off to make the bike a little less appealing to the thief.”
Need a few tips on locking your bike better? Watch this amusing guide to what not to do:
Hal Grades Your Bike Locking 3: The Final Warning! from Streetfilms on Vimeo.
Comments
2 responses to “West Seattle Blog: Bike theft alert in the Southwest Precinct”
It would be nice if landlords would provide a place to lock your bike to instead of bringing it in the apartments that are already small. It would save on wear and tear on the apartment as well.
2 of our bikes was stolen last Aug 21,2013. It was in a secured garage and within a secured bike racks and ulocks and cables. Apparently the thief was able to gain entry to the garage smoothly, at first i thought it was an inside job but according to the landlord one of the resident who lost her remote key did not report to the landlord until cars and bikes where stolen.