Seven bike thefts have been reported on the UCCS campus since Aug. 23, according to university police.
Two of these thefts occurred in Summit Village; the others occurred in or near Alpine Village, according to Detective Corporal Martin Toetz.
“So far, all of these [stolen bikes] have had cable locks which are really easy to defeat — it only takes a bolt cutter. It only takes a couple of seconds to take the lock off and walk off with a bike, or in this case, ride off with the bike,” Toetz said.
Bike thefts on campus are not out of the ordinary, according to Toetz. “It’s typical. When the school year starts, the [criminals] know that we have bikes locked up all over campus.”
Toetz theorized that this is the work of several people, not a single individual.
According to Toetz, some of the perpetrators leave a bad bike behind when they steal a good bike.
There have been no witnesses to the thefts. Toetz said, “Even if they come on campus during the day, they come on with a backpack — they look like a student.”
Toetz advises that when students secure their bike outside, they use a U-lock instead of a cable lock; U-locks are much more difficult to defeat.
Another way to help secure a bike is to remove the seat and/or front wheel. “If you take the seat off, who steals a bike with no seat? Plus, if you see someone riding around on campus on a bike without a seat, that is kind of a clue,” Toetz said.
Toetz also encourages students to register their bikes with the UCCS parking office. “If we want to track a bike down, we really need the serial number … it’s a good idea to keep track of that.”
If you have any information that might be helpful in this investigation, contact the University Police Department at 719-255-3111, for the attention of Toetz, or in person at the Department of Public Safety located inside the Gateway Hall building.
“If you see something, say something … maybe we will catch someone,” Toetz said.
