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BERMUDA | RSS PODCAST

How about a community solution to bike theft

Watchful eye: a CCTV camera at the Southern roundabout (Photo by Akil Simmons) January 20,2012

Dear Sir, I am hoping you can use your magic and get the Bermuda Police Service’s attention and focus on a problem that they seem to struggle with or just don’t care about.I am an expatriate who has lived in Bermuda for more than five years now.During that time, my bike has been broken into at least 15 times, ten in the past four months, with a helmet stolen, and seat and basket destroyed multiple times. In the past three years alone, two of my bikes were stolen. One of my colleagues had their bike stolen twice in a space of a month, despite it being parked in a well-lit location with CCTV cameras around, albeit of poor quality, as we later found out.Each time I reported these incidents to the police or filed claims with the insurer, I learnt of more bikes being damaged or stolen at about the same time as mine.I am lucky in that comprehensive insurance covers a good portion of the damage, but what about those less fortunate? What about people who rely on their scooters for work or day-to-day life? What about those who can’t afford waiting for the claim to be considered, or simply can’t afford a comprehensive insurance policy? Why is it that nothing can be done about the scale of bike theft that goes on in Bermuda?Does one have to be an MP to have police make an effort and actually look at CCTV footage? With CCTV cameras present in so many places, why is it so difficult to catch the bad guys?If it’s the lack of an idea on how to catch them, why not set up a sting operation with bite-bikes equipped with GPS trackers?If it’s the lack of resources, I would happily donate up to $10,000 to the BPS to buy tools/bikes that would help them set up bikes with GPS trackers. (Please put me in touch?)If it’s the BPS’s indifference to the problem, why don’t you help us apply pressure on them to finally solve this issue? If there is one problem that I can help solve before leaving this beautiful island, let it be bike theft.CHRISTIAN ANDERSWarwick