Top cop peddles message to lock up your bikes after spate of thefts

Bicycles are a great way to get around our beautiful city, but unfortunately we are having problems with pushbikes being stolen in Geraldton.

Opportunist thieves have been taking advantage of people leaving bikes in front of homes or leaving their garage doors open. You could just leave it out for a few minutes and come back to find your bike suddenly gone.

Between September 1, 2020 and March 17, 2021, Geraldton police had reports of 87 bikes stolen, but during the same period only 19 were handed in to police and returned to their owners. It’s not like it used to be when I was a kid.

We were able to tell where all our mates were by riding past their houses and seeing if their bikes were left out the front.

Unfortunately, those times have passed and we need to be more vigilant in protecting our property.

The price of pushbikes has risen since then, so you want to cherish that prized possession and lock it up when you are out and about.

That’s why we’d like to remind everyone to lock their bikes up and record their details on Bikelinc.

To encourage this, we’re running a competition in conjunction with the City of Greater Geraldton and Crimestoppers WA, in which members of the community have the opportunity to win a D Lock bike lock.

There are 40 D Locks to be won, each valued at $50, and all you need to do is go to bikelinc.com.au and register the serial number of your bike. You have until March 31 to try to win.

This allows Geraldton police to get found bikes back to their rightful owner if they are stolen. So what do you have to lose by entering? Not your bike, that’s for sure!