The bicycle was taken early in the morning. A few hours later, officers tracked and apprehended a male who was riding the bicycle after burglarizing a store with stolen credit cards.
So reads the excerpt from a San Diego Police Department case describing how GPS-enabled “bait bikes” from the Code 5 Group help catch thieves.
According to a “Surveillance Impact Report” that will be presented at a City Council Public Safety Committee hearing on Wednesday, the technology “provides the ability to safely track and apprehend suspects” and “address the persistent theft of bicycles within the city of San Diego.”
The special bikes are locked to racks and other objects throughout the city. Officers are then alerted to any movement and can track the bicycle’s location in real time.
One of the benefits of the GPS system is that it allows officers to “attend to other duties while they wait for an alert indication the bike has been stolen,” the department said.
According to police Lt. Dan Portnoy, 60% of the deployments have resulted in a bait bike being stolen, with each arrest submitted for prosecution. Many arrests have also led to additional charges, including narcotics, weapons, burglary tools, warrants and parole violations.
More than 200 incidents have been recorded since the first GPS bait bikes were deployed in 2014.
It’s the same sort of proactive policing as “bait cars” used during the holidays in busy shopping centers. But the bait bikes do nothing to draw attention to themselves. They look like everyday bikes, left unguarded and don’t need officers monitoring the location.
The plan is for GPS-integrated bicycles to be deployed citywide in all council districts. The locations selected for deployment are areas that report high bicycle thefts.
The city currently has four bait bikes to deploy, each one costing about $1,600. The tracking system is extra at $62.50 a month per bike.
Public information about the bike program is required under the city’s TRUST — transparent and responsible use of surveillance technology– ordinance, which requires greater transparency when the city agency uses surveillance technology.
The report to the council committee notes that there is no cost associated with the action the police department is seeking. It notes that it is only asking for approval of the technology under the TRUST ordinance.
