Dutch police launches "bait" bikes project

In Amersfoort, a central Dutch city with a population of 130.000, bike theft counts for about 10 percent of the total reported crimes (900 in 2010).

The Dutch police in Amersfoort are leaving out (both locked and unlocked) "bait" bikes in different spots around town secretly equipped with tracking devices in order to catch bicycle thieves.

These two-wheelers look like normal bikes but whenever a bike is "on the move" the police can pick up its GPS and trace it.

This six-month pilot project that started last December is another aspect of the total plan to reduce bike theft as more than half a million bicycles are reported stolen each year.

Bicycle theft makes up a large portion of petty crime and often goes unpunished in the bike-mad Netherlands.

Note that the risk is higher in major cities with a large student population and as expected, Amsterdam is the "local capital" of bike theft.