Property theft is on the rise in the city and bicycles are one of the hottest items on the list for thieves.
Bike thefts have gone up 60 percent this year compared to 2014 and police say stealing a bike is a crime of opportunity because it’s quick and easy.
“Easy crime to grab a bike from a locker, from a garage and from your balcony, things like that, so definitely an increase,” said CPS Sgt. Katrina O'Reilly.
Locks help but don’t always stop people from riding off with your wheels.
One condo building in the core has had four thefts in the last two months and police say they aren’t surprised.
“Your bike being unoccupied in a small little locker in the underground of your parkade is out of your control. I would suggest you keep your bicycle closer to you where you know where they are in non-vulnerable places,” said O'Reilly.
Some people are taking to the Internet to see if they can recover their property by checking sites like kijiji to see if their bike is up for sale.
Police say the best thing for people to do if their bike gets stolen is to report it.
“Typically, people fail to report it actually. We see quite a few people who don’t report it because they feel that they don’t have a serial number, or they don’t have something that’s necessary for the police to track it and find their bicycle but really that’s kind of a myth, at the end of the day, we want people to report it, we want people to give us a description of their bike and if you don’t have that information, that’s okay,” said O’Reilly.
Police say once the theft is reported they will put a note on the system so that they have some way to return it to the owner if it is recovered.
For information on cycling in Calgary click HERE.
