Stolen Bikes—-
Hello, I manage a community in the cities where bikes are the #1 stolen thing around here. I note to all residents about this and say if you have a bike you LOVE don’t keep it in the garage. (People that steal bikes around here are pros) Even with the constant reminders, bikes are stolen from the garage and I get very angry residents on my office and telling me I have to solve the problem. How do you respond to this? (Most of the people get in by walking in after cars enter or leave the garage. I have sent multiple reminders to residents to wait for doors to close to leave but I can’t actually enforce that. We also have no room for any type of bike room.)
I worked in Santa Monica and we had the exact same issue. We even had these massive metal bike lockers and still would get stolen.
There is literally no way to solve this when residents don’t listen though. Because it literally takes one resident to not listen.
I know you stated that you discuss this with residents but I’d make them sign a form stating that understand your bike “might” get stolen, it will get stolen in a matter of time. The management is not held liable should they choose to ignore advice.
But we literally had bike thieves so desperate, they’d climb up to second floor balconies.
Allie Gartside I have a garage addendum but maybe making a bike one too will help back up that I was more than transparent with them. I hate when things get stolen but I can’t stop everything. ? the recent one that was taken was gone in under 6 minutes.
It's really hard to combat, the thieves are professionals. As an owner of a few high $ bikes myself I encourage all of our site teams to recommend bike owners register at a site like
bikeindex.org/
. These sites act to reduce the trafficking of stolen bicycles (as a business) as prospective buyers can run the id number on the bike to check ownership status. Other than that, cameras, secured access and hardened locks on the bikes help but will not stop a cordless grinder and a diamond disc.