A high number of on-campus bike thefts during the last several weeks caused the St. Thomas Department of Public Safety to release an advisory warning of the incidents and provide theft-prevention tips to bike owners.

The message that Public Safety sent out on Nov. 10 stated that there had been six thefts during the previous two weeks. Crime Prevention Sgt. Wells Farnham said college campuses are very vulnerable to bike thefts.

“Crimes are about opportunity, and if your business is stealing bikes, you look at a college campus, and it looks like a cash machine,” Farnham said.

According to Farnham, the sidewalks running through the lower quad are easy spots for any person to scope out bikes without standing out or looking unusual.

There is no reason to believe that students are stealing bikes; Farnham said perpetrators usually come from off campus.

Heather Kascht, a senior at St. Thomas, thought her bike had been stolen but found out later that Public Safety had taken it to prevent theft.

“I’d actually forgotten my lock in my apartment,” Kascht said. “Of course the day that I forget my lock is the day that it gets taken.”

Kascht was coming out of the Anderson Athletic and Recreation Complex after softball practice to retrieve her bike, but found it was gone. She then made a report to Public Safety, which said it had actually taken the bike.

“Later they explained that they actually snatch up unsecured bikes around campus so they don’t actually get stolen,” Kascht said.

Farnham suggested bike owners make sure they know the serial number on their bicycles. This makes it easier to connect a missing bike to the owner if found.

Farnham also said that if students are not actively riding their bikes, they should take them home, rather than leaving them on bike racks.

“People unfortunately treat the bike racks as bike storage,” Farnham said. “We want people to use their bikes … what we don’t want is people leaving their bike at a bike rack and then thinking it’ll still be there when they come back to it in four or five days.”

Farnham warns people living off campus to take the same precautions and always lock up their bikes, as the most recent theft took place when someone took a bike off a front porch of an off-campus residence.

Rachel Weiss can be reached at weis3565@stthomas.edu.