Did someone steal your bicycle? If you’re lucky, the Campus Safety Office and Azusa PD just might conduct a sting operation to get it back for you and even arrest the thief.
An unidentified male student reported his bicycle stolen from the Shire Mods to Campus Safety on Sunday, Oct. 27. The student returned to the Campus Safety Office the next day and and provided officers with an unidentified website where his bicycle had been put up for sale, presumably by the suspect who is believed to have stolen the bicycle.
University Resource Officer Mike Biers then contacted Azusa PD, which had detectives put together an undercover sting operation to retrieve the stolen bicycle. According to Biers, within 12 hours, Azusa PD detectives had enough information to identify the suspect.
An officer posed as an interested civilian looking to buy the bicycle on the unidentified website and agreed to a meeting with the suspect at an undisclosed time and location Thursday, Oct. 31. When the suspect arrived with the bicycle, officers arrested him and returned the bicycle to the owner.
Campus safety officials regard this incident as a positive outcome of working with Azusa PD through URO Biers.
“Something that may seem minor like a bicycle theft, we at campus safety take stolen property seriously,” said Campus Safety Lieutenant Jeff Joseph.
The Campus Safety Office reports a total of 28 bicycles stolen from Wednesday, Aug. 15 to Monday, Oct. 28, and 82 bicycles confiscated by Campus Safety after being discovered to be unsecured and at risk for theft.
Bicycles that are confiscated are kept at the Campus Safety Office for safety until the owner comes to pick the bike up. No penalties or charges are held against students whose bicycles are confiscated.
“If we never confiscated those [82] bikes for safe keeping, then 82 more bikes could have been stolen,” said Joseph.
Campus safety officials cite the importance of keeping bicycles secure while on or off campus by suggesting bicycle owners use a U-lock with a cut key lock to secure their bicycles to designated bicycle parking areas. They also recommend avoiding U-locks with round key holes as they are easy for thieves to pick.
The University Bookstore sells cut key U-locks and campus safety officials are offering gift cards to local restaurants for students who bring their newly purchased U-lock receipts from the bookstore in to the Campus Safety Office.
Although the number of students at APU has dramatically increased this year, the number of bicycles stolen has only increased by eight, according to Campus Safety Office records. However, the number of bicycles confiscated has increased by 53.
“We are trying to be more proactive with the confiscations to keep more bikes from being stolen,” said Interim Chief of Campus Safety Terry Meyer.