“In 2013, there were 122 bikes reported stolen to the University of Alabama Police Department,” UAPD Officer Vonda Collins said.
Laura Yablecki, a sophomore majoring in mathematics and economics, is familiar with on-campus bike thefts.
“I was only riding on campus for two weeks before my bike was stolen,” she said. “I live off campus, so not having a bike was a big inconvenience for me since I am not able to drive to campus.”
Yablecki said she believes the bike theft problem has increased since she first arrived on campus last fall.
“Besides me personally having my bike stolen, I have had friends now who have had their bikes stolen, and it is just an incredibly frustrating situation,” she said. “It is sad that some people will resort to stealing bikes from innocent students.”
Chris Kent, a junior majoring in management and information systems, said he mistakenly believed his bike was stolen three different times.
Kent said he was coming back from class one day and went to where his bike was supposed to be, and it was gone. He immediately called UAPD, who told him they cut off his locks and had his bike.
“I assumed that this was because my bike wasn’t registered at the time, so it was more of a relief that my bike was alright,” Kent said. “After I got my bike back that day, I made sure to register it through the school.”
Kent said he assumed all of his bike trouble was over, but again he walked out to where his bike was parked and it was gone. He said due to the overflow of bikes, he has to park his bike in a different place.
“So while I see that the University may be making obvious strides in registering bikes to prevent theft, I think one way to make bikes safer is to allow more parking opportunities where you can properly lock your bike to better prevent theft,” Kent said.
Collins advised students to follow some simple rules when it comes to commuting with a bike on campus.
“First of all you need to always secure your bike properly to a bike rack. Also, we offer an Operation ID program where students can come in free of charge and engrave letters/numbers to identify their bikes, and finally, we encourage students to keep this identifying information and/or register their bicycle with Transportation Services,” Collins said.
