Six bikes stolen from Alcona neighbourhood
By Chris Simon

Photo by Chris Simon Chloe and Dairen Moore pose with the bike that was returned a few days ago.

Claire Boland doesn't understand why three of her children's bikes were stolen last week.

But the Alcona mother of five isn't alone. Between Sunday and Tuesday of last week, six bicycles and one helmet were stolen from several properties on Vicrol Drive, near St. John's Road.

Boland's bikes were left untied in the driveway of their home. Although one of the bikes has since been returned to the property, Boland and her children Alex, Chloe and Dairen Moore say their privacy and security has been violated.

"We have a very small street, there's only 17 houses and four are actually cottages," she said.

"For us to go out and purchase three bikes, that's digging into our grocery money. That's digging into money that we just don't have. This is an expense that's difficult.

"More so than that, it's the look on my kids' faces when they realize the world isn't all nice and pretty."

She says several bikes have been stolen off the property over the last few years. However, she was surprised by the sudden rash of incidents over the three day period last week.

"We've had bikes stolen from here before ... a couple of years ago we fished out some of our bike frames from the park; this is the second time this year my daughter's bike has been stolen," she said. "Everything we have is out in the open, but they had to come onto our property. There's petty thieves around, and my children have fallen victim to not having their bicycles locked up after a day of play in the warm weather."

Now that the snow has melted and warmer temperatures are a daily expectation, bike thefts are expected to become fairly frequent throughout Innisfil. However, there are several preventative measures that can be taken, said South Simcoe Police Sgt. Lisa Hunt.

"Numerous thefts do occur out of open garages, or if you have your bike sitting on the front lawn," she said. "Some people are pretty daring. We recommend they're secured at all times. It's a crime of opportunity."

Bikes should always be securely locked inside a garage or other low risk area, and owners should record important information, including the serial number, colour and other main features.

"If they have information they can give us like the serial number, make, model, colour or any other descriptors, it would help," she said.

"The reason it might be rare to get it back is because we can't identify it. If we find a bike, how are we going to know it's yours? But if you give us a serial number, we can enter it into our system."

Police are also worrying about more than bike thefts. Children need to take caution when riding, by wearing proper safety equipment, said Hunt.

"We encourage you to wear helmets and follow all the rules of the road (when biking)," she said. "I see so many kids riding around with helmets on with them unbuckled. It's not going to help you at all."