A pair of Hamiltonians are using the internet to fight bike theft

In the Hamilton police property room, there are about 85 bikes right now that have been recovered or found by police.

They’re kept for thirty days and if an owner can’t be found they’re sent for auction. Police say more than 800 bikes were stolen in 2018 and more than 300 so far this year.

Stolen bikes are difficult to track and hard to return to their rightful owner. Police say bike theft often goes unreported, and when people call in to make a report, sometimes they just don’t have enough information to get the bike back.

Jessica Combate had her bike stolen outside her work and hasn’t been found. She’s trying to help fight bike theft by creating an online map showing where bikes have been stolen.

Chris Ritsma rides a bike to work, but prefers Hamilton’s bike-share program worried if he takes out his own, it might get stolen.

He is also trying to fight theft by starting a Facebook page for people to share information about stolen bikes.