San Francisco Police Department: Bait Bikes, Tech and Twitter to Combat Bike Theft

Jun 8th 2018

One of a cyclist's biggest fears is having their beloved bike stolen from them. For many of us, our bike is more than a way to get from point A to B; cycling for many people is a deeply personal hobby, a means of world travel, a lifelong passion. 

Officer Matt Friedman of the San Francisco Police Department is also a cyclist, and the creator of the  @SFPDBikeTheft account. The mission of this account is 3 parts: 

(1) Bike Registration: Register your bike's serial number on registries that the police use. Such registries are Bike Index, Safe Registry, or Project 529.

(2) Education: Locking techniques and theft prevention are some of the main topics this account teaches to cyclists

(3) Bait Bike Program: SFPD puts GPS trackers on bikes all over the city and arrest thieves as soon as the bikes are stolen. Then the mugshots of the thieves are posted on Twitter. Many of the bikes that are selected as bait bikes are also high value bikes, which means the thieves are charged with more than misdemeanors. 

  

  

Officer Friedman said “We handed out 25,000 stickers that say ‘Is this a bait bike?’ and encouraged locals to stick them to their frames,” Friedman says. “People really enjoyed seeing that—and obviously the idea was to make thieves think twice that any bike could be a bait bike. I would literally take our bait bikes and parade them through chop shops and say, ‘Hey, we have tons of them out there, and I dare you to steal one because it’s going to be a felony if you do and you will go to jail.’”

  

  

  

  

This program began in 2010 and has since made a significant impact in the decline of bike theft in the city. 

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