When Colm Stephens, the head of the School of Physics at Dublin’s Trinity College, reported the theft of his €3,000 bicycle to the gardaí, he overheard another individual reporting a scooter theft. His costly bike was reported stolen in June, and it took the Garda Pulse system a fortnight to list it, a time period that Mr. Stephens remarks was extensive considering the circumstances.
The data revealed that over 25,000 bike thefts have been reported to the gardaí since 2019. However, activists estimate that only a quarter of such incidents are reported.
At 65, the Drumcondra resident Mr. Stephens, had been an ardent cyclist since his adolescent years, using his bicycle for daily commutes to work. He observes that bike theft trends have evolved over time. Back in the day, theft was widespread with bikes going missing left, right and centre. However, these days, thefts are more deliberate, involving highly sought-after, upscale bicycles like his.
On the fateful day in June, Mr. Stephens had securely parked his bike around a building in the Trinity College Dublin campus, confident that it was a designated, safe spot and had secured the bike with a high-grade lock. The shock he experienced at discovering it missing in the evening around 5:30pm, the lock expertly severed with an angle grinder, was akin to the stages of grief, complete with self-blame.
A cut lock located nearby the next day, coupled with overhearing a scooter theft complaint from Westland Row at the gardaí station pointed towards a string of deliberate thefts, perhaps by the same culprits, in his opinion.
He informed both the campus security and the police about his bicycle being stolen, even though he had parked it under a monitoring CCTV camera. Sadly, he has no permission to access the recorded footage of his bike getting stolen, due to GDPR rules that only lets the police view it.
He confessed that it may not be worth it to own such an expensive bike, given that his cheaper replacement might get stolen at some point as well. As a result, sharing the same sentiment with many staff members, Dr Stephens brings his bike into his office to avoid any potential thefts.
Reflecting on the past incident, he realises that he might have been too trusting by leaving a bicycle that cost £3,000 locked up outside a building, beneath a CCTV camera.