Bike Thieves at Arizona State University Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Bike Thieves at Arizona State University - Essay Example In addition, the student is faced with a financial burden to replace the bicycle or find an alternative means of transport, and until they do they are faced with significant inconvenience in commuting from one place to another. Students are the group most highly affected by this theft, as many are low in income, and as a consequence find replacing their bicycle difficult, and may not be able to afford alternative means of transportation. Hendricks, L. (2010, September 29). Bike thieves in high gear, Az Daily Sun. This article was published in the Arizona Daily Sun, a newspaper which serves Northern Arizona and the Flagstaff district. The writer of the article was the assistant editor. As a consequence of the source of the information, it can be considered to be reliable and well researched because there are standards required of any reporter publishing in a newspaper. The author reports on the role that is played by the police in recovering bicycles stolen from Northern Arizona Unive rsity and an approach to reduce the number of bicycle thefts that are occurring. Thefts are common at the University, so much so that the police department has a separate category to track these as for other thefts. Officer Jerry Rintala comments that most thefts happen as a consequence of owners not locking up their bicycle as they only plan to be gone for a short period of time, or using poor quality locks, which are easy to remove with the use of bolt cutters. In an attempt to reduce this, the police and University security have initiated a campaign across campus to inform students about the benefits of using quality locks and keeping their bicycles locked when they are not in use. As it is a crime of opportunity, this has the potential to greatly reduce the number of bicycle thefts that are occurring. In addition, a bicycle registration service has been brought back to campus which is free to all student, faculty, and staff at the University. This involves registering the physic al description and the serial number of the bicycle, as well as a photo if desired, with the police, allowing them to identify the bicycle if it is found. The combination of these two techniques should result in the significant decrease in the number of bicycles that are stolen and an increase in both the likelihood and the speed in the bicycle being returned to its owner. Crime Prevention Unit. (2011). Don't let your bike get ripped off. Theft Prevention Retrieved October 13, 2011, from http://www.tempe.gov/cpu/bike%20theft.htm This article was published online on the website for the City of Tempe, Arizona, under the section of the Crime Prevention Unit, theft prevention. There is no author given for the short article, however, the fact that it hosted on the government website indicates that the tips which the articles give are in line with the standards recommended by the city authorities. Furthermore, the fact that the article is hosted on the Tempe City governmental site indicat es that the statistics that are given are likely to be correct. The City of Tempe has had severe problems with bicycle theft, with more than 650 reported stolen in 2010 alone. Like the Arizona State University, many of the thefts were a consequence of the bicycles not being locked. The city offers registration of bicycles through bicycle stores rather than through the police, with the aim of identifying the ownership of bicycles if they are recovered.