Between Aug. 25 and 27, the University Police Department sent out a timely warning notifying students about larceny of electronic bikes and scooters, scaring student scooter owners.
Jonathan Byers, a sophomore student at WCU, has heard about the warnings and has taken extra precautions because of it.
“Anytime I have my truck, and I go anywhere, I put my bike in the back of my truck and use my lock to lock it,” said Byers.
Byers has been riding his bike to and from class this semester. He says he has been increasingly worried because of the timely warnings sent out. He’s also helped to spread the word of larcenists on campus taking people’s bikes and scooters.
With a small amount of bike racks on campus, the bikes and scooters get compressed in one area.
“When they’re all bunched up in one area on the bike racks, from a different perspective, people won’t notice that one is missing,” said Byers.
Because of the threat of people stealing them, Byers takes time out of his day to make sure that his bike is still there.
“I can look at the bike rack from my window in my room, so if it’s been a good minute, I’ll look down and make sure my bike is good and I’ll go down to see if it’s been messed with,” Byers said. “Some people are crazy.”
However, according to UPD, these timely warnings are nothing to be worried about.
“To the Department of Education, who is the federal compliance we have to use, they classify a motor scooter as a motorized vehicle,” said Brian Thomas, the Assistant Police Chief of the UPD. “Under the federal guidelines called CLER, anytime there’s a motor vehicle stolen, we have to send out a timely warning.”
Thomas explained that a lot of the reported stolen scooters have been misplaced.
“They’re like, ‘oh I forgot I parked it over there, and I went over here, and my scooter wasn’t there when I came out,’” said Thomas. “When we reunite scooter and owner, we call it unfounding a crime.”
Thomas showed the call logs that had many calls about scooters and bikes, most of which were misplaced.
For students who worry about the theft of their bike or scooter, UPD released tips to keep your vehicles safe.
“Just, if it’s valuable to you, then secure it,” said Thomas. “If you want to keep your scooter, there are lots of bike racks on campus to secure it.”
UPD also advises people who own scooters to change the combination from the default.
They also advise people who use bikes and scooters to be aware of their surroundings, have a buddy with them when they lock up the scooter, utilize locks when they leave their bikes and scooters unattended and keep them in a secure location.
