Official Student Newspaper of Henry M. Gunn High School

The Oracle

Official Student Newspaper of Henry M. Gunn High School

The Oracle

Official Student Newspaper of Henry M. Gunn High School

The Oracle

Locks distributed on campus to prevent bike theft

By Lydia Zhang:

According to Dean of Students James Lubbe, the number of bikes reported stolen to the administration sharply increased at the beginning of the year. Fortunately, this number has since declined, but the administration is working on even more preventative measures to decrease bike thefts on campus. Many of the bikes reported as stolen seemed to have been taken from the bike racks behind the portables in the Village. In order to directly encourage students to lock their bikes, the administration is now providing free loaner bike locks.

In order to directly encourage students to lock their bikes, the administration is now providing free loaner bike locks.

Lubbe, however, believes that the thefts have more to do with what the bikers are doing—or rather, what they are not doing. “We have had our campus supervisors walking around and looking at bikes, and we did see a number of bikes that were not locked,” he said. “It’s one of the problems. Students don’t always think to lock their bikes.” Assistant Principal Trinity Klein agrees and believes that most of the stolen bike reports are coming from students who do not bring locks to school, which has prompted the creation of the loan system. “It seems like a simple solution,” Klein wrote. “Students should have a strong lock and use it. Lock it in a bike cage or somewhere central and visible.”

In addition, Lubbe also says that many of the students he meets with about their bikes cannot produce the lock for their bike and believes that they did not have locks in the first place. “I have to wonder why people aren’t coming up with the locks,” he said. “I don’t think that someone who is cutting the lock really wants to take that lock with them.”

Though locks can help deter theft, Lubbe says students should still employ a couple of other measures that will help find their bikes if they are stolen. He encourages students to register their bike with the police department and have a picture of the bike.

Klein also advises two things that all students should do once they know that their bikes have been stolen. “First, come to the office and fill out a lost/stolen item report in as much detail as possible,” she wrote. “This allows us to have a record in case a bike is later found. Second, make a police report, so if the police recover a bike, they can search against their records. Since the school and police are separate entities, it’s important that students do both.”

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