Foot Needs to Come Down On Cycle Theft in Garden City, Says Cycle Shop Owner
As thefts have resurged, NZR looks at the bicycle theft epidemic, e-bike thefts, the Garage 529 rego system & cutting-edge anti-theft tech. We also see whether Police & government are doing enough.
“I’ve been running the shop now for eight years. And I think one of the reasons why we’ve got the worst stat (for bicycle thefts) in the country, we’ve also got the most cyclists of any city…in New Zealand,” says Ken, Action Bicycle Club owner.
Ken estimated that the number of cyclists on a given day could be “in the thousands.” Uni student Gordon is one of them.
I get it the Police are busy and there’s a lot of things going on, on the case. But if the government or the Police could really put their foot down and make it clear that this off behaviour is not tolerated, and that some people have to be made examples of, especially, you know, serial theft.
Ken, Action Bicycle Club owner
Gordon had his bike stolen in Hornby and when the NZR met him he had just installed an anti-tampering device (for motorcycles) on his bike that was linked to his phone. If his bicycle was tampered with by a would-be thief, an alert signal would be sent to Gordon’s phone.
Source: Gordon Filimaua
Students such as Gordon have good reason to take theft-prevention measures.
Police data shows that between 22 February 2022 and 29 February 2024, Canterbury was streets ahead of all other parts of the country, recording a total of 1725 known incidents of bicycle theft. Auckland limped into second place with 1282 cases. As seen before, Ken believed Canterbury was ahead, because it has the most bicycles.
In February 2022, the much-touted Garage 529 was launched in Christchurch and was seen as a game changer for bicycle theft. But has it had the desired impact?
“It has made an impact but it would much better if, as more people use 529 it will improve itself,” says Ken. “That’s how it works. Like, the more people get on board with the sticker and registering your bike, the better 529 becomes for everybody.”
“Just because it’s also the database that the Police are working with, and with everyone being familiar with 529, it makes the whole second-hand market a bit more reputable as well and it’s easy for anyone to spot or tag missing bikes. It’s easy to trace and return the bikes to the original owner. So overall it’s a good system, and.”
Student Gordon was unaware of Garage 529.
Garage 529’s impact has been mixed bag with signs that bicycle theft is resurging in 2024.
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