Police say CCTV can be a deterrent but thieves will sometimes take a chance anyway. (ABC Radio Adelaide: Malcolm Sutton) The high number of bike thefts in Adelaide’s CBD is putting the brakes on commuters with 287 reported stolen in the past six months and many more going unreported.
Adelaide Bike chairperson David Elliot said thieves were using pocket-sized power tools to cut through locks before putting the bikes in storage to "cool off" before selling them on the second-hand market.
"We’re at a point where this theft-to-second-hand market pipeline is quite mature, so we’ve been aware of cases where bikes have been shipped interstate or to different towns, or different ends of the city," he said.
He said this was to avoid the 5 or 10-kilometre radius filters people might use when searching the likes of Gumtree or Facebook Marketplace for their stolen items. Bike Adelaide chair David Elliot says his own bike has been interfered with on several occasions. (Supplied: David Elliot) A police spokesperson said 287 bicycle thefts had been reported in Adelaide’s CBD between April 1 and September 26.
But Mr Elliot said police figures did not reflect the true number of thefts because most people only reported the loss of high-value bikes, with a perception that low-value bike thefts did not get investigated.
"The more professional outfits are going around with a power tool, a pocket circular saw, and that will probably get through some of the more heavy-duty locks," he said.
"A colleague had three bikes of theirs stolen […]
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