CUPD promotes bike safety on campus

The CU Police Department organized a bike lock giveaway in response to an increase in thefts on campus.

The giveaway took place at the UMC, where 10 locks were given to students who participated via Twitter and Facebook. In addition, two of the 10 participants received bike light packages. The contest required CU students to comment on why bike safety is important to them, “like” the CUPD page on Facebook or send a message via Twitter containing @CUBoulderPolice. The contest ended at 11 p.m. September 12.

Friday at the UMC the University of Colorado Police were handing out free bike locks to students. Since September of 2008 over 9400 bikes have been registered with the CUPD. (CU Indpendent/Chelsea Shettler)

According to a university news release, bike thefts are the leading crime on campus, excluding alcohol and drug related offenses. Last year, 137 bikes were stolen on campus.

The CUPD distributed U-locks to 10 participants of the social media contest. According to the news release, cheap cable locks are the most likely to be broken.

Ryan Huff, CUPD spokesman, said that the giveaway promoted bike safety on campus.

“The main goal is to educate people about bike safety,” Huff said.

Registering bikes at the UMC helps prevent stolen bikes from being resold, Huff said. If a bike is stolen, it can be found and returned to its owner by looking up the serial number that was associated with it. A bike that was reported stolen last year was later found in Arizona and returned to its owner.

“There are success stories,” Huff said.

Registering a bike with the university costs $10 but includes unlimited access to the UMC bike station. The station provides repair services at no additional cost to those who have their bikes registered.

Chris Yarrish, a 28-year-old senior astrophysics major, has had two bikes stolen, though neither of the thefts occurred on campus.

“They weren’t locked,” Yarrish said.

Katy Spinks, a 21-year-old junior film major, is a U-lock user and has never had a bike stolen on campus.

“I left it on campus over the whole weekend, and it’s still here,” Spinks said.

Tracy Humphrey, CU’s transportation outreach coordinator, said a total of 9,415 bikes have been registered since September 2008, and 3,132 registrations were sold in the 2011 calendar year. A bike census conducted this past spring indicated that approximately 40 percent of all bikes on campus are registered.

For more information on bike safety go to: http://police.colorado.edu/crime-prevention-safety/preventing-bike-theft.

Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Michael Brown at [email protected].