Metro baiting would-be bike thieves at River Run
April 27, 2007
According to this Nevada publication, the local law enforcement is cracking down of bike theft. We’ve heard from several that this is a huge concern at many events, so it’s nice to see the issue being taken seriously. How do you protect your bikes when you attend rallies and other events? We’d love to know your opinions/comments/advice. For those attending Laughlin, have fun and be safe! :-)
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You can expect a large police presence in Laughlin this weekend for the annual River Run. The theme this year for officers is, “If it’s predictable, it’s preventable.”
Officers expect as many as 70,000 motorcycles to be there this weekend. Police say officers will have a zero tolerance policy for criminal conduct. There will be a curfew for minors and no cans or bottles are allowed throughout the event.
The heightened police presence comes after the 2002 deadly biker brawl inside Harrah’s hotel-casino during the River Run.
Motorcycle theft has been a big problem in the past during this event. But this year Metro has another tool to fight it. They’re called bait bikes. The bikes are planted by Metro police. They’re equipped with a GPS system so when the crooks take them Metro can follow them and make an arrest.
The statistics are impressive. During 2005’s River Run, twenty-three bikes were stolen. In 2006, after the Motorcycle Task Force was implemented, only three bikes were stolen.
Metro is still perfecting this new technology, but they say the idea is to send a message to would-be criminals. “As we’re learning this stuff, it’s to their detriment,” explains Metro’s Lieutenant Robert DuVall. “Don’t steal motorcycles, don’t steal cars in Las Vegas or Laughlin because we’re taking strong measures to find you, catch you, and prosecute you.”
And motorcycles aren’t the only thing equipped with this technology. Metro has bait cars, bait U-Hauls, even bait trailers. The bait vehicle program has seen a lot of success. Metro tells the Crime Tracker 3 Team that when they first starting using the cars back in October, for a 2.5 month period, they made eleven arrests. The following 2.5 month period, that number went up to forty-three.
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