Students request surveillance to prevent bike theft

Zoë Dehmer
Contributing Writer

Larceny has long been the most commonly reported crime on VCU’s campuses. The VCU Police Department has set their sights on reducing property thefts around VCU, but some students say more needs to be done to protect bicycles in particular.

The VCU Police Department received reports of 90 bicycles stolen during the last academic year, a “pretty high number,” said Captain Mike O’Berry of the VCU PD division of patrol operations. Coming into this year, the department’s goal was to reduce bike thefts by 20 percent. So far, only 26 bike thefts have been reported since the academic year started in August.

Daniel Russell, a sophomore psychology major, had his bike stolen last semester from his off-campus house in the Carver neighborhood. His bike was registered through the Bike Registration Program and he had the decal on his bike at the time of the theft. Russell filed a police report with the VCU PD when he discovered what had happened.

“(VCU PD) said they would call me if they found anything, but I haven’t heard anything yet,” he said.

In order to help prevent theft like this from happening, Russell said he would “like to see more bike racks around Richmond that are stable.” His bike was locked to the railing on his house and “someone actually broke the wood on my house and took the bike with the u-lock on it,” he said.

The VCU PD promotes the its Bike Registration Program every year, and students can now fill out information like the bike’s serial number and contact information online, as well as receive an optional VCU police decal to put on their bike. Nearly 2,000 bike owners have registered for the program, approximately 300 of which have registered their bikes this school year.

Officer Matt Ruland, VCU PD’s community policing officer, explained that the Bike Registration Program is easy for students to sign up for, and definitely worthwhile because “very rarely are the ones that are registered reported stolen,” he said. “Which tells me that the education piece is involved in that … We tell them how to lock their bike, where to lock it, how to take care of it.”

But even on campus, students are wary of the safety of their bikes, especially around the Pollak Building, home to photography and film, interior design, graphic design, fashion design, and cinema majors. There are no security cameras on the exterior of the building and the courtyard, where six rows of bike racks are stationed, obscured from view of the sidewalk and road.

Junior photography and film major Inga Schunn’s bike was stolen from the Pollak building while she was in class between 4:00 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. last January.

“I instantly called VCU police and reported it, gave them the serial number and description,” said Schunn. “It was locked up with a u-lock and a steel cord number lock, but there wasn’t a trace of the bike anywhere,” she explained.

When Schunn discovered that there were no security cameras on the exterior of the building, she filed a complaint with VCU Police Chief Venuti.

“I mean, seriously, that’s such a scary spot,” Schunn said. “It’s hidden from the street. Someone could get robbed or raped out there and a police officer driving by would have no way of seeing it.”

Schunn suggests that one simple step that she would like to see the VCU PD take to bolster security around the Pollak building is to have security cameras set up in bike areas.

“It is the least that the university could do to improve campus safety,” Schunn said. “I’m really surprised that this isn’t already the case.”

VCU PD is aware of the concern that Schunn and other students share about a lack of surveillance cameras around campus. Captain Mike O’Berry of VCU PD said that there are plans underway to improve security camera coverage across campus and is confident that new cameras will be installed within the next year or two.

“We’ve had a company come in and go around to the whole campus and identify which spots need cameras,” O’Berry said. “This is a process to enhance the existing cameras we have with high-quality HD cameras, as well as add additional cameras.”

Ruland said that one of VCU PD’s goals for this year is to reduce bike thefts by 20 percent, and added that the department has taken a special interest in the Pollak building because of the visibility issues that the building’s architecture creates.

“We’ve increased lighting all along the back alley between there and the performing arts center,” he said.

Ruland also said there are steps that students can take to lower the risk of their bike being stolen. “Lock your bike properly. It’s so important,” Ruland said. “We like a good u-lock. Lock it through the frame and the front tire.”

In another attempt to curb bike theft, the VCU PD has begun a program that depends on having bikes stolen. It’s called the “Bait Bike Program.” Captain O’Berry said since the program’s launch last school year, the VCU PD has sent out 26 bikes; five of those bikes have been stolen and the police have made apprehensions with each attempted theft.

VCU police attach a tiny GPS device to the “bait bikes” and lock them around campus with locks that are easy to compromise. When a bait bike is being tampered with, an alarm goes off at the police station. With the effectively-invisible GPS system, the police “can follow it electronically anywhere,” O’Berry said.

Because of the program’s success, the VCU PD has plans to increase the number of bait bikes on campus soon. “We’re buying more GPS devices, we’re buying more bait bikes,” he said. “We’re trying to get aggressive with it.”