by Ava Castelli

It’s been about a month since sophomore Daniel Ashbeck walked out of his South Campus Commons apartment to discover his 10-year-old grey Trek bike was missing. 

“I checked all the other spots it could have been and it wasn’t there either,” Ashbeck, an information science major, said as he’s continuing to look for it around campus. 

Bike theft is common at the University of Maryland — Sgt. Rosanne Hoaas, the university police department’s public information officer, said theft is the most reported crime on campus.

Ashbeck locked up his bike. But Hoaas recommends taking a close look at which type of lock one uses and be careful where it’s placed. Thieves can take parts of bikes like a wheel or a seat that aren’t locked properly and “build-a-bear but with a bike,” Hoaas said.

Karmen Macchiagodena, a senior biology major, thinks she saw just that when she was walking home from the McKeldin Library around Halloween. 

“I wasn’t sure if it was their bike and they were struggling with their key or if they were trying to steal part of it, but it was scary to see,” Macchiagodena said.

The University of Maryland Police Department uses their Information Analysis Unit and Security Operations Center to try and prevent bike theft, Hoaas said. The Security Operations Center monitors the cameras on and around campus 24/7, reporting suspicious activity or crimes to the UMPD officers through the radio.

The Information Analysis Unit compiles data on crime trends in order to help UMPD officers and the Security Operations Center know what to pay more attention to around campus, Hoaas said. 

“Having the IAU makes our job so much easier so we are not running around like finding a needle in a haystack— we have a centralized source,” she said. 

UMPD has a couple other strategies up its sleeve to deter bike theft, including bait bikes. They blend in with other bikes on campus but have a hidden GPS tracker. If these bikes move from their spot, UMPD can track the thief through the GPS tracker and cameras on campus.  

UMPD places the bike in strategic locations with the help of trends the Information Analysis Unit complies, Hoaas said. The program has been around since 2014 and has helped catch many bike thieves, she said, but was unable to provide an estimate of how many have been caught.

Hoaas recommended that students register their bikes with the Department of Transportation Services and park them in well-lit areas on campus to prevent theft from occurring to them as a preventative measure.

But Hoaas said UMPD faces a major challenge: UMD is an open campus, so anyone can enter UMD’s campus, day or night. That includes thieves looking for a bike to steal, she said. 

Ashbeck is still sad about his stolen bike.

“We’ve been through so much together,” he reminisced.

Featured image: A bike rack outside Edward St. John’s building on campus. Photo by Ava Castelli.