BART bike sting nabs one of Contra Costa County’s top bike theft offenders
A bait bike operation held this week at the Pleasant Hill BART station resulted in the arrest of two male suspects on felony grand theft charges and the recovery of a bicycle previously reported stolen from the University of California-Davis campus.
BART Police regularly conduct random surveillance operations at locations throughout the District using plainclothes officers and a bait bike. This operation, which was held on Tuesday, April 29, 2014, was a joint operation between BART Police, San Francisco Police Department, and the Contra Costa Sheriff's Department. The San Francisco Police Department supplied the bait bike for this operation.
Lt. Michael Hayes of the BART Police Department, who was part of Tuesday’s operation, said, “Not only did BART Police arrest two suspects but one of them is a repeat bike theft offender in Contra Costa County, having been arrested multiple times. The Contra Costa Sheriff’s Department says he is one of the top three bike thieves in the area. One of the suspects was riding a bike which had previously been reported as stolen from UC Davis. That bike is in the process of being returned to its original owner.”
“Bike sting operations are an important tool for BART Police in protecting the belongings of our riders,” Lt. Hayes said. “Bike riders can help prevent bike theft by locking their bike using a strong u-lock, two u-locks is even better because cable locks can be easily cut. Bike owners should also document the color, brand, model and serial numbers of their bicycle. In the event that someone steals their bicycle, the information is needed to enter into the police database. In our case, the owner provided the UC Davis Police with this information and we were able to recover their bicycle.”
According to BART’s latest quarterly performance report, there were 168 bike thefts in the second quarter of the fiscal year, down 75 from last quarter and down from the corresponding quarter of the prior fiscal year.