Victoria, BC – VicPD D Watch Patrol officers and Oak Bay Bicycles teamed up after a young man’s bicycle was stolen, and when recovered, discovered to be damaged beyond repair.
With bike theft continuing to be a significant issue this summer, VicPD Patrol officers have made recovering and returning stolen bicycles a priority. D Watch has strongly focused on this priority.
Owen’s brand new Giant bicycle was stolen in the 100-block of Oswego Street on June 20th. Having only had it for 2 short months, he’d ridden it to school and locked it properly. When he left school for the day, his bike was gone. His family reported it stolen, and provided an excellent description for our Patrol officers to work from.
Four days later, on June 24th, Cst. Rob Domville, a D Watch Patrol officer, spotted a man riding a bike that resembled Owen’s stolen one. The man riding the bike committed twoMotor Vehicle Act infractions, at which point the officer stopped and spoke with him. During the conversation it became clear that the bicycle he was riding was not his own, and had recently been modified in an attempt to disguise it. Officers seized the bike as stolen property. The man was not charged.
Officers were then able to establish that the bicycle was in fact, Owen’s. However, when they brought it back to headquarters they noted that the attempts to disguise the bicycle had rendered it unsafe. Owen was without a rideable bicycle.
D Watch officers began to gather funds to help offset the cost of replacing Owen’s bike. This effort caught the attention VicPD Sgt. John Musicco, who related the story to Oak Bay Bicycles’ Scott Martin. Recognizing officers’ efforts, Martin was able to work with Norco to offer a replacement bicycle at a reduced price.
D Watch officers surprised Owen with his new bicycle on Saturday, June 29th.
D Watch officers with Owen, his family and his new bike.
Bike theft continues to be a significant issue. This year, in the City of Victoria alone there have been 302 reports of theft of Bikes under $5,000, and 7 reports of Bikes Over $5,000. Officers have recovered 66 stolen bikes, but have seized another 92 bikes, suspected to have been stolen or stolen in other jurisdictions.
In February, D Watch recovered over 20 stolen bikes. Several of these had been taken from storage lockers and were returned to owners who did not know they had been stolen.Cst. Rob Domville recovered many of these bikes.
In addition to locking your bike as well as securing and checking on your storage locker, you can help protect your bicycle by registering it with our bike registry. It’s free, straight forward and in the event your bike is stolen, will greatly assist in officers being able to confirm it as stolen and return it to you.
To register your bicycle, please visit https://vicpd.ca/bike.
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