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Police preach proper approach after stolen bike miraculously recovered twice

Oct 12, 2017 | 6:07 PM

NANAIMO — RCMP are using a Nanaimo woman’s good luck as a reminder to help combat the most common theft in the city.

Nanaimo RCMP Cst. Gary O’Brien said it was miraculous enough a woman was reconnected once with the bike stolen from her yard in the city’s south end on Oct. 1. However, it was beyond belief when the bike was stolen a second time days later and again the woman was able to get it back undamaged.

“She should probably go out and buy a lotto ticket because it doesn’t happen,” O’Brien told NanaimoNewsNOW.

He said the case is a perfect teaching tool, since the woman didn’t report the initial theft to RCMP, only making a post in local Facebook groups.

“The first thing people do is post to Facebook and they think that’s the be all and end all. But it’s not, it should be used to assist the police in finding the bike…We tell people it’s imperative to first report it to the police and then second post it to social media.”

O’Brien noted their officers use pages like Thieving Nanaimo and Stealing Nanaimo daily and consider them effective tools.

Anywhere from one to five bikes are stolen daily in Nanaimo, with upwards of 600 taken every year, O’Brien said. He said less than 30 per cent are recovered before they end up in crack shacks or are ripped to pieces for parts.

O’Brien said one of the best tools police have in their arsenal to recover stolen bikes is the smartphone app 529 Garage. The app allows people to register their bike, with pictures and the serial number. If it is reported stolen by the owner, an alert goes out to everyone on the app, as well as police. O’Brien said police are confident they will hit their goal of having 1,000 people signed up on the app locally by the end of the year.

 

island-news@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @NanaimoNewsNOW