Keep your eye on your ride or lock it up tight because bike thefts in Durango have been on the upswing since August.
More than $40,000 worth of bikes have been stolen from August into October, according to a news release issued by the Durango Police Department. Many of the bikes, which have ranged in price from $300 to $8,000 and more, have been stolen from truck beds, backyards, bike racks and garages left open overnight, according to the release.
Bikes can be sold for fast-cash or online through popular sites like Facebook Marketplace, where serial numbers are filed off frames and bikes are sold whole or parsed out in parts.
Durango Cyclery owner Joe Hanrahan has also noticed the increased number of thefts.
“Officer Chris Thomson is the main guy who investigates and follows up on bike theft, and he drops by about once a month with a printout of pictures and a log of bikes that have been stolen, so yeah, it seems like there really wasn’t anything new happening over the summer and then in August he came in and he had more,” he said.
Hanrahan is also a member of the Durango Stolen Bike Recovery Posse group on Facebook, which many people throughout town keep an eye on. The site posts information about stolen, missing, found and possibly found bicycles.
“And just from what I see on there I could tell that there had been an uptick, a pretty clear uptick, a surprising amount, like pretty bold thefts out of people’s garages and off the backs of their cars, in their driveways and stuff like that,” Hanrahan said.
The time of the thefts has been a mixed bag, happening at night and during daylight hours, according to the police and posts on the posse’s page. Some have speculated online that thieves must be driving around with a box truck, noting thefts from Bayfield to Telluride, but that remains speculation.
No particular areas or neighborhoods were listed as high-risk in the police news release, but Hanrahan did notice “a little spike” on the mesa in the SkyRidge neighborhood near the Fort Lewis College campus.
“And then I also just noticed in the past couple of weeks out County Road 203 there were a couple that were similar where they both got pinched off the back bike racks on someone’s car in their driveway,” he said. “Those are kind of weird, those stood out to me.”
Police and Hanrahan advise a high-quality U-lock to prevent bike theft. The police also advise locking the wheel together with the frame and then locking them to a bike rack, as signs and such are not as secure. They also suggest locking-up in well-lit, well-traveled locations. Write down your bike’s serial number and take photos. Without proof of ownership, it can be a case of one person’s word against another’s. Finally, register your bike with police. Stolen bikes are entered into a national database and can be seized and returned even if recovered out of state.
Other tips found on the posse’s webpage included hiding a GPS tracking device on the bike.
“We put out a bike with a GPS locator yesterday (Wednesday),” said Deputy Chief of Police Brice Current. “And it was stolen and the thief was apprehended and charged.”
To register or report a stolen bike, call the Durango Police Department at 385-2900. People can also visit the main lobby at 990 East Second Ave., or report a stolen bike online at www.durangogov.org/422/Online-Police-Reporting. To report information about bike theft rings, contact Durango Police Sgt. Detective Chris Thomson at 759-3953, or email chris.thomson@durangogov.org.
gjaros@durangoherald.com
