Two small mistakes left Corey Hickson without a bike.
“(It’s) definitely frustrating. I wasn’t locking it up at home because it’s a simple thing to do. It takes two seconds,” Hickson said.
Besides not locking the bike in his yard, Hickson also left his gate open. It wasn’t long before it disappeared.
Without a car, Hickson was lucky he had an older model at home to get around – the new bike was his main form of transportation.
Hickson isn’t alone. According to the Saskatoon police, there were 83 reported bike thefts in June and July of last year. This year in the same time period there were 149.
Despite the rising number, police don’t think it’s a trend. “It can be a crime of opportunity. If they're sitting there and aren't secured properly. They are easy to steal. Someone is going to take them,” said Constable Bill Bergeron.
For some, the stolen bike is a temporary way to get from point A to B, but some are kept and others are sold. Police said they do recover some, and if victims supply them with serial numbers, they have a better chance of getting their bikes back.
