Today, the San Francisco District Attorney’s office announced charges in a massive bike theft case, in which a bicycle thief was found with hundreds of stolen bicycles that he was keeping and reselling from a storage locker in Oakland.

The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition applauds the SF District Attorney’s office and SF Police Dept. for their success in putting this bike theft ring out of action.

By taking the crime of bike theft seriously, the District Attorney’s Office is helping more people make the choice to bicycle in our city for more of their trips to work, to shop, to school, and for play.

“We hear from our members and the growing number of people biking in San Francisco that bike theft is one of the biggest deterrents to bicycling in San Francisco,” said Leah Shahum, Executive Director of the 12,000-member San Francisco Bicycle Coalition “We’re pleased to see the SFPD and DA’s office taking bike theft seriously, and we look forward to continued efforts from the City to curb bicycle theft.”

If your bike was stolen, see the collection of recovered bikes here. If you believe one of the bikes may be yours, please contact Sgt. Kumli at 415-404-4048 or joshua.kumli@sfgov.org. You will be asked to provide identifying information (serial numbers, etc.)

This is a good chance to share our top tips to avoid bike theft:

1 – Always lock your bike with a U-lock, and secure the frame to the bike rack or pole. (Simply a cable lock is not enough)

2 – Protect your investment by parking your bike in a visible, populated area.

3 – Consider securing your wheels and seat with skewers, or an additional cable, along with your U-lock.

4 – Never lock your bike to a handrail, or a loose object.

We have more detailed suggestions on deterring bike theft and recommendations on what to do if your bike is stolen at sfbike.org/theft

We are also seeing local employers take the threat of bike theft seriously, as they encourage more of their workforce to move around by bicycles. This year, the Employee Bicycle Access Legislation was signed into law.

The ground-breaking legislation requires owners of commercial buildings to either provide secure bicycle parking in their buildings or to allow the tenants to bring their bicycles into the building. This means that San Francisco employees will have more secure bicycle parking and won’t have to leave their bike parked outside for 8 hours. You can find more information about the legislation at www.sfbike.org/access

Again, the SF Bicycle Coalitions commends the DA’s office and the Police Dept and urge them to keep up this much-needed focus on deterring bike theft as the City works toward its goal of 20% of trips in our city by bicycle by the year 2020 to help create a healthier, greener, and more accessible San Francisco.