Hjólaþjófnaður er vandamál sem lögreglan sinnir stundum ekki nógu vel og fær því að viðgangast. Lögreglan í Amersfoort í Hollandi vildi gera betur og setti í gang sex mánaða átak í desember síðastliðnum. Hún kemur fyrir nokkurskonar tálbeitum, hjólum sem stundum eru læst og stundum ekki, en öll eru þau búin GPS staðsetningarbúnaði sem gefur lögreglunni merki þegar hjólið er tekið og vísar henni beint á þjófinn.
Lesið fréttina á Bikeradar.com
Police in Amersfoort, a city in the Netherlands plagued with high levels of bicycle theft, are leaving out bikes equipped with hidden trackers to catch thieves.
"Bicycle theft is a type of criminality that often goes unpunished," police spokeswoman Cornelie Hogeveen said of the project in the central Dutch city, which had a population of 144,858 and suffered 900 bicycle thefts in 2010– 10 percent of the total reported crimes.
In a six-month pilot project that started last December, so-called "bait bikes" are being placed in different spots around town, "sometimes locked and sometimes not," said a police statement.
The lures "look just like normal bikes", according to Hogeveen; whenever a bike is removed, the police pick up its GPS signal and start a trace. "Sometimes the thief is already gone, sometimes we find other stolen bikes," she said. "It's a form of criminality that affects many in the Netherlands," she added. "Not only do they risk having their bikes stolen, but also buying a stolen bike."
The Netherlands, which counts an estimated 18 million bicycles for 16.5 million inhabitants, registered a total of 515,000 bicycle thefts in 2009, according to AVC, an organisation that tracks vehicle theft statistics.