Calgary police have charged nine people following the Mountain Bike Unit’s (MBU) “operation hot seat” initiative.
Operation hot seat was created to curb bike thefts in Calgary. According to a news release, there have been 1,190 bike thefts so far in 2018, which is 25 per cent less than last year, which saw 3,633 bikes taken.
Police said they would like to continue to see that number decline.
According to police, the bike theft sting took place over the course of two days and one night at the end of May.
The MBU watched nine people steal a bike that police had pre-identified which resulted in 54 criminal code charges, 16 warrants and 14 summons issued.
Thirteen grams of methamphetamine and a number of stolen credit cards were also seized during the investigation.
Police laid charges that include theft under $5,000, possession of stolen credit cards and possession of a controlled substance against the nine individuals.
To prevent bike theft, police suggest making sure your bike is locked up with multiple locks in a secure place for only a short period of time.
Police advised against locking up your bike in the same place every day and said people should take easily removable items such as bells, seats and lights with them.
Additional tips can be found online on the Calgary Police Service website.
A stolen bike can be reported to police by going online to Calgarypolice.ca and filing a report.
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