Albany, Oregon Implementing GPS Tracker to Thwart Bike Theft
2 Jun 2016Albany, Oregon Implementing GPS Tracker to Thwart Bike Theft
Police in Albany have come out with a new GPS-tracking system that is designed to lower the amount of bike thefts in the city.
Around 130 bikes were stolen in 2015 in Albany — and that is only the number that was reported.
This GPS-tracking system is designed with the hope to stop bike thefts and other property thefts before it happens.
Three GPS-tracking devices were launched by the Albany Police Department to attach to bikes and other small packages. The devices are attached to the bikes, the police wait for a thief to take the bike and seconds later of being stolen, the tracker sets off an alarm that signals patrol officers on their computers of the theft.
This tracking system is put in place with the intent to catch the thieves before they are able to steal real property and grab them before they actually succeed in stealing the property rather than after they have stolen it.
According to Lt. Alan Lynn from APD, they set the system up on 5 times on a bike and watched 5 individuals attempt to steal the bike and ride off with it.
It was during a single weekend that the 5 attempts of theft took place. Some individuals are concerned if this could be counted as entrapment.
Lynn stated that for it to be entrapment, they would have to entice an individual to commit a crime they don’t want to do. All they are doing is putting the bike out for anyone to see it and if they come along and steal it, it’s on their own free will. The police have no say in it.
The five potential thieves that tried to steal the bike were also part of other incidents, according to Albany Police.
The overall goal of the GPS-tracking system is to use the data collected from it to target the locations that are more prone to future property theft.
The use of GPS tracking devices in order to retrieve stolen cell phones is nothing new. Using GPS to track a stolen vehicle and get it back is also nothing new. However, using GPS tracking in order to retrieve other property such as your computer, a hi-definition television, a prized antique furniture piece or your bike is a fairly new idea to most people.
It’s been said that if property that has been stolen is not retrieved in a few hours, the chances of it being retrieved at all is slim to none. With GPS tracking, the odds of a thief making it through those few hours without the police catching up to them is slim to none. The thought of a property owner having the ability to not just be alerted when their property has been stolen, but also for the police to be given the exact location of where the thief is is a huge benefit of using GPS tracking devices.
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