Western Australian Police have reported recent success in catching bike thieves and reuniting owners with their stolen property.
Officer in Charge at the Wembley Police Station, Senior Sergeant Peter Gilmour said one of the unexpected outcomes from the COVID-19 pandemic has been a noticeable increase in bike use.
“Bike retailers are reporting a sustained increase in both bike sales and repairs which is showing no sign of abating,” Senior Sergeant Gilmour said.
“With the increased demand for bicycles and more of them on the streets, it’s not surprising they have become an attractive target for thieves.”
He said the success story for the station had been the effectiveness of Bikelinc in enabling bikes to be reunited with their owners.
“Recent examples include an incident late last week where Sergeant Pat Kelly and Constable Jack Drew caught a thief who stole a $600 bike from Rosalie Park Primary School,” Senior Sergeant Gilmour said.
“Owner Ryan Tan said he left the bike unattended for just a couple of minutes only to return and find it gone.”
He said Sergeant Kelly charged a woman with unlawful possession after seeing her riding a bike without a helmet along Leederville’s Oxford Street. On further investigation the bike turned out not to be hers.
“In both instances because the owners could be identified through Bikelinc the bicycles were able to be quickly returned,” the officer said.
After launching in October last year, Bikelinc now holds the details for around 10,475 bikes with a collective value estimated to be $16.3 million.
