Does Your Neighborhood Meet the ‘Bicycle Test?’

Does Your Neighborhood Meet the ‘Bicycle Test?’
Liam Weston, Sac Union Columnist
Published: May 28, 2008

A man in Buenos Aires, Argentina who was longing for the “good ole
days” decided to perform a test to see just how bad things had become
in certain areas of town with the increase of petty thefts and a
general lack of personal security. He remembered a time, 30 years
prior, when bicycle locks were not available in stores, when people
didn’t need them in Buenos Aires and left their unlocked bikes
anywhere.

He decided to conduct the test by leaving unlocked bicycles in various
neighborhoods and record how long it took before an unsecured bike was
stolen in Buenos Aires. The incidents were recorded by a hidden camera
and produced into short videos he now makes available on the Internet.

Each video begins with a narrator’s voice announcing in Spanish, “The
Bicycle Test, a simple test to know where you can live safely.” Next,
the image of a solitary bike is shown as various people walk past the
bike and a clock in the corner of the image records the minutes and
seconds ticking away. Eventually the bike is stolen and the clock
stops, thus providing a type of safety index for that particular area
of the city. The quicker the theft, the less desirable the area. If
the bike is not stolen within an hour, the area is declared a safe and
desirable place to live.

The videos became an overnight sensation in Argentina and now across
the Spanish-speaking world. It has been reported that prospective
renters, homebuyers and even franchise operators in Argentina often
want to know the “Prueba de la Bicicleta” rating before deciding to
invest or live in a particular area of the city.

Among the worst areas are those near the national legislature, where a
bike was taken in just three minutes. Twenty minutes is considered
moderately safe, while over an hour is the gold rating every
neighborhood hopes to receive. Certain trends have also emerged
regarding the thieves recorded on the videos. They are always men and
often prefer a light jacket with a hood. You can watch the videos by
searching for “La Prueba de la Bicicleta” on the Internet.

I wondered how certain areas of Sacramento would fare in such a test.
Fortunately, I don’t need to buy any bicycles to conduct such a test
since local area law enforcement agencies have participated in a
program called “bait bike” with a company using tracking devices small
enough to hide inside a bicycle. The local company, Pegasus
Technologies, assisted in recovering the bait bike using a radio-
tracking device they sell that was hidden on the bait bike. The bad
news, however, is that some of bikes were actually locked with a bike
chain thus invalidating any potential direct comparison for the times
it took for thieves to take the bike from different locations around
Sacramento.

The Sacramento Sheriff’s Department placed the bait bike at the Target
store located at 1919 Fulton Ave. a few years ago and it was stolen
within 5 hours. Another bait bike was placed on the California State
University, Sacramento campus and locked to a bike rack. Thieves cut
the lock and that bike was taken in just under three hours. The CSUS
Police made the arrest once the bike was located using the hidden
tracking device on the bike.

While suburbs are likely safer places, the Argentina experiment turned-
up one interesting result. The nicer the neighborhood, the quicker the
bike was stolen in areas near downtown, while outside the urban area
the trend was different.

Another interesting distinction was that the Argentine experiment,
despite recording many different incidents, never involved a woman
stealing a bike. Conversely, the person charged in the theft of the
bait bicycle on Fulton Ave was a woman. Indeed, the Sheriff’s
Department is reported to have parked the bait bike again at the same
Target the next morning. The second time they again caught and charged
another woman with stealing that bike.

Sacramento’s bait bike is different since it targets known areas of
criminal activity while the “Prueba de la Bicicleta” provides an
attractive, unlocked bike on a busy street corner. This temptation
might be called a crime of opportunity because those tempted are not
normally bike thieves.

What makes the bicycle test so popular is that it doesn’t consider
race, immigrant status or even cost of housing when rating the safety
of any given area. It is an objective and inoffensive way to determine
if the people of a particular area can be trusted to respect property.

Maybe someday, a real estate agent will tell you, “Your budget for a
house puts you in a 5-minute neighborhood.”

Liam Weston works in international business.

http://www.sacunion.com/pages/columns/articles/9815/

I want to hear mre about those "Bike-Jack" devices the sacremento bait
bikes were equiped with. :-3)

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