It’s a small miracle for Michel who contacted us via the orange Alert Us button. This Liégeois had his bike stolen in the heart of Cité Ardente. The police, quickly alerted to the crime, were able to find it in record time: a quarter of an hour, watch in hand. How did they do it?
Michel uses his bike every day and cherishes it as much as the apple of his eye. Recently, while he was going for a coffee, his bike was stolen.I parked it and blocked it thinking I would be completely safe” he says. Unfortunately, this was not the case…
It’s almost unbelievable
Realizing that his property had disappeared, Michel grabbed his phone and dialed 101. When all hope seemed lost, the police found the bike and returned it to him. “I was already mourning it. (…). I really didn’t think there was going to be a positive sequel.” he confides, relieved. “I consider it a stroke of luck. (…) It worked very well, it’s almost unbelievable. It’s great“.
“Responsiveness is very important”
In Michel’s misadventure, speed is the key to success. “The victim was very responsive and directly contacted our services by telephone. This made it possible to check our cameras at the scene of the theft”, explains Kim Alexandre, principal inspector of the Liège police zone. The thief and the bike were intercepted in record time thanks to video surveillance and the vigilance of the patrols.
“Responsiveness is very important”she emphasizes. “We have a network of cameras that is very extensive, so we can see a lot of things in a lot of places. Reporting the facts quickly is important so that we can set up a quick and effective investigation”.
The number of flights is decreasing
While Michel’s incident ended well, this kind of outcome is still very rare. Stolen bikes are found in an average of only 10% of cases.
Currently, bicycle thefts are down slightly: in Liège, for example, 566 cases were recorded in 2022 compared to 354 for 2023. The most complicated thing, underlines the Liège police, is not locating the stolen goods, but to return them to the owners.
Originality
Most bikes recovered by police cannot be returned “because they have no distinctive signs”says Kim Alexandre. “There is a missing link between the facts and the bikes that are found. A bike that is barely recognizable and has no distinctive sign can never be returned to you, it can never be proven that it is yours.”.
This is why the police advise making them unique. To do this, several solutions are available to you: engrave it with your national register number (thus, a clear and direct link is established between you and the bicycle) or the use of application of tracing such as Mybike. “These prevention techniques are deterrents to thieves, just like not parking it anywhere and everywhere, attaching it properly and, why not, near a camera.”specifies the spokesperson for the Liège police.
“It’s a barrier to mobility”
In addition to these good practices, the safety of bicycles in public spaces also requires secure parking located near public transport and workplaces. “The fact that they are secure is an essential element because we realize that people who have their bikes stolen do not buy them again afterwards”recalls Laurence Lewall, director of Gracq ASBL. “Many people do not have the possibility of parking their bikes, which is a barrier to mobility”.
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