Victoria, BC – VicPD has another tool at its disposal to combat bike theft in the City of Victoria and Township of Esquimalt.
Due to an increase in bike theft, VicPD acquired bait bike technology to trial over the past two months.
VicPD’s Crime Reduction Unit (CRU) has deployed bait bikes in strategic spots with success over the past two months. They were able to arrest a Victoria area man, who was subsequently sentenced to 8 months in jail. Another man was arrested while stealing a bait bike and is facing theft charges.
“The success of the program so far is evident in the arrests made,” Acting Chief Del Manak said. “We have taken steps to expand the program to hopefully reverse the trend of bicycle and e-bike thefts in the City of Victoria and Township of Esquimalt.”
VicPD has acquired multiple bikes as well as an e-bike. The reach and effectiveness of the bait bike program will make people “second guess” stealing a bike as they will not know it is a bait bike until officers place that individual under arrest.
The new VicPD Bait Bike Program complements the VicPD Bike Registry, which has more than 1,500 registered bikes. If you don’t have your bike registered or want more information, please visit: http://vicpd.ca/bike-registry
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