The Chainlink

Stolen Bike Registry - do this when your bike gets stolen

"With all the stolen bike posts lately (and no one thinking "I wonder if there's something under Useful Links for this."), I think it's well past time to make a sticky about the Stolen Bike Registry"

 - Tank-Ridin' Ryan

 

Well said Ryan.

 

 

http://chicago.stolenbike.org/

 

Done and done.

 

And sticky too.

 

 

Cheers - Lee Diamond

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Permalink Reply by Mattheis on February 7, 2012 at 1:28pm

What happens when a bike is stolen in broad daylight?

"More than a thousand bikes are stolen every year in Vancouver. The Sun conducted an informal social experiment to see what people would do when encountering a bike thief."

http://www.ecovelo.info/2011/09/22/bike-theft-social-experiment/

I think this is a pretty good example of the bystander effect as it relates to theft.

Permalink Reply by Michael Dornbusch on April 20, 2012 at 1:21pm

im a senior at Northwestern and im working with the city of evanston to redistribute their bike rack parking. if you want to give input (and note that wherever you say bike racks are needed, they will **probably actually put one**), take the jump into this link and take the survey. wherever you indicate that you feel unsafe parking, there is also a likelihood that cameras or lights will be installed. thanks.

jump to survey: http://www.thechainlink.org/forum/topics/city-of-evanston-bike-rack...

Permalink Reply by Liz on April 24, 2012 at 11:52am

Question, is anyone interested in doing a sticker campaign to promote reporting stolen bikes on chicago.stolenbike.org? 

I've found that many people who have bikes stolen have no idea when to do, and it might be helpful to put stickers on racks in higher theft areas, so that people will know to file a theft report and put it on the registry.  I knew through word of mouth that there were some bike thefts near my office this year, but I don't know who's bikes were stolen and they weren't reported on the registry.

Part of my interest in this is that I'm attempting to make a case for my company to finally step up and provide more secure bike parking, and this would be much easier if we got more accurate statistics. 

Any thoughts? 

Permalink Reply by h' 1.0 on April 24, 2012 at 12:43pm

I'll order and pay for stickers but it's next to impossible to find anyone willing to take the time to put them out there.

Liz said:

Question, is anyone interested in doing a sticker campaign to promote reporting stolen bikes on chicago.stolenbike.org? 

I've found that many people who have bikes stolen have no idea when to do, and it might be helpful to put stickers on racks in higher theft areas, so that people will know to file a theft report and put it on the registry.  I knew through word of mouth that there were some bike thefts near my office this year, but I don't know who's bikes were stolen and they weren't reported on the registry.

Part of my interest in this is that I'm attempting to make a case for my company to finally step up and provide more secure bike parking, and this would be much easier if we got more accurate statistics. 

Any thoughts? 

Permalink Reply by Jenn_5.5 mi on April 24, 2012 at 1:12pm

@Liz - One of the guys in my design team had his bike stolen - from our soon to be replaced rack using a cable lock, I gave him everything I could find on here. He filed a police report but I never seen his bike come up on the registry... You can led a horse to water but you can't make him drink... Which doesn't help your cause!

 

@h' - I am sure my 7-year-old would love to put stickers on bike racks. I am/would volunteer to help up with that one weekend.

Permalink Reply by Liz on April 24, 2012 at 1:22pm

Howard, I'm also glad to volunteer a night for a canvass of the Loop with stickers. 

@Jen I'm glad he was pointed him in the right direction, but frustrating that he wont post the bike to the website.  At least he did file a police report. 

Permalink Reply by Cameron 7.5 mi on April 24, 2012 at 1:26pm

What type of information do people think should we put on stickers? In addition to pointing victims to the registry, it would be good to encourage people to keep better records and provide tips on better locking techniques. However, that seems like a lot to cram on a sticker.



Liz said:

Question, is anyone interested in doing a sticker campaign to promote reporting stolen bikes on chicago.stolenbike.org? 

I've found that many people who have bikes stolen have no idea when to do, and it might be helpful to put stickers on racks in higher theft areas, so that people will know to file a theft report and put it on the registry.  I knew through word of mouth that there were some bike thefts near my office this year, but I don't know who's bikes were stolen and they weren't reported on the registry.

Part of my interest in this is that I'm attempting to make a case for my company to finally step up and provide more secure bike parking, and this would be much easier if we got more accurate statistics. 

Any thoughts? 

Permalink Reply by Liz on April 24, 2012 at 1:36pm

Here's a rough draft of what I'm thinking.

I haven't yet figured out what to put on it, maybe we could have people submit sticker designed like those for bike winter?  

Have a picture of a well locked bike, and make some sort of statement about 1. filing a police report, 2. registering it at chicago.stolenbike.org 

I'll think through my idea more this afternoon.  

Permalink Reply by Jenn_5.5 mi on April 24, 2012 at 1:51pm

Also, add something along the lines about keeping good records/knowing your Make/Model & Serial Number.

Or does that make a 'reminder' for the theif to remove said numbers?

Permalink Reply by Duppie 13.5185km on April 24, 2012 at 2:21pm

Great idea. Here are some thoughts:

I volunteered last year for Active Trans to sticker bike racks with the Crash Help stickers. It took a lot longer than you would think. You may want to contact Jason Jenkins @ Active Trans to see if he has any info about how they organized it. Distribution area, how many volunteers, how many racks per volunteer, distributing stickers, etc.

I am not too experienced in sticker manufacturing, but I would guess fewer colors means a cheaper sticker price?

Keep the amount of info low on the sticker. People need to be able to read that in one second. Something like this:


STOLENBIKE.ORG

  • Learn how to lock your bike
  • Register your bike
  • Report bike thefts

 

(Just an example. I understand this would mean adding some links on how-to-properly lock your bike on chicago.stolenbike.org )

I can help to pay for the stickers as well as with distributing them

Permalink Reply by h' 1.0 on April 24, 2012 at 2:29pm

No time right now but FYI you don't need the "Chicago"-- just stolenbike.org.

Permalink Reply by notoriousDUG on April 24, 2012 at 2:39pm

You get me stickers and I will tag every rack I see.

h' said:

I'll order and pay for stickers but it's next to impossible to find anyone willing to take the time to put them out there.

Liz said:

Question, is anyone interested in doing a sticker campaign to promote reporting stolen bikes on chicago.stolenbike.org? 

I've found that many people who have bikes stolen have no idea when to do, and it might be helpful to put stickers on racks in higher theft areas, so that people will know to file a theft report and put it on the registry.  I knew through word of mouth that there were some bike thefts near my office this year, but I don't know who's bikes were stolen and they weren't reported on the registry.

Part of my interest in this is that I'm attempting to make a case for my company to finally step up and provide more secure bike parking, and this would be much easier if we got more accurate statistics. 

Any thoughts? 

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