Thefts vexing Sandpoint's cycling community

SANDPOINT — Bike theft rates in Sandpoint appear to be keeping pace with the increasing number of cyclists who are navigating city streets.

Forty-four bike theft cases have been reported so far this year, according to figures kept by the Sandpoint Police Department. The combined value of the stolen bikes is about $8,000, Chief Corey Coon said.

In 2012, 77 bikes were reported stolen, compared to 33 bikes were reported stolen in 2011, according to the department.

The individual costs of the bike range from $25 beaters to $1,000-plus, high-performance bikes.

Many of the higher-end bike thefts were crimes of opportunity.

“It’s the bikes that are not locked up. They’re in the back of a truck, not locked up, or they’re on a porch, not locked up,” said Coon.

Incidents where thieves stole bicycles by overcoming a lock are relatively rare, although lock-cutters were present during some of last year’s larger cycling events. Coon said there was an incident where a thief actually entered a residence to swipe somebody’s high-end bike.

“For other (less valuable) bikes, it’s really random — any place people can just grab ‘em,” said Coon.

Along with recommending that people secure their bikes, Coon encourages city residents to call the department to have their bike’s make, model and serial number logged into its database, which would make it easier to reunite a pinched ride with its aggrieved owner if the bike turns up. Coon said the department plans to update its website so people can enter that information online.

A recent community survey indicates a large number of city residents use bikes for commuting purposes, which Coon attributes the traffic-calming effect of the Sand Creek Byway, gas prices and increasing environmental consciousness.

“We had a huge majority of them who were riding constantly, which surprised me,” said Coon.

Journalist and writer Patrick Symmes delved into the heart of America’s bike-crime underbelly in a 2012 article for Outside Magazine.

“Stolen bicycles have become a solvent in America’s underground economy, a currency in the world of drug addicts and petty thieves. Bikes are portable and easily converted to cash, and they usually vanish without a trace — in some places, only 5 percent are even reported stolen,” Symmes wrote in the article “Who pinched my ride?”