Brookline Cops Fishing For Bike Theives

THIS IS AWESOME!

From Boston.com

Police in Brookline are racking up arrests of bicycle thieves using a “Bait Bike” equipped with a GPS tracker and a system that notifies police when the two-wheeler is moved.

Police park the bike in spots where bicycle thefts are being reported, and the GPS tracker then turns on using a motion sensor when a thief takes the bait, according to Brookline Police.

“If you looked at the bike, it’s a regular bike–you’d never know,” said Brookline Police Lt. Derek Hayes.

Hayes, who used to head the Brookline Police Department’s bicycle unit, said the bait bike was first used by the department last year and is being used more intensely this summer.

Police said the bike has led to the arrest of eight would-be-thieves, including the arrest of two men on Aug. 4 after they cut the bike from a pole on Beacon Street.

The town has between 60 to 80 bicycle thefts reported each year, Hayes said, and many more probably go unreported.

Hayes said he was trying to find a way to combat the bike thefts when he read about a university in the mid-west that was using GPS trackers to catch bicycle thieves and he wanted to give the idea a try in Brookline.

This is such a simple, and easy way to catch bike thieves, they should actually be installing these in new bicycles as an option for people who live in cities. Perhaps in the bike computers as they already have gps in most of them. Thanks DJ for sending me this link.

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