The bike lane turned into a path to jail for an alleged thief recently.
A 31-year-old man is accused of stealing a bicycle from a commercial area in North Vancouver and pedaling partway across the Ironworkers Memorial Second Narrows Crossing during rush hour before police apprehended him March 17.
The man is accused of stealing an RCMP bait bike. Police frequently deploy two-wheeled decoys in an attempt to stop the cycle of crime, according to North Vancouver RCMP spokesman Corp. Richard De Jong.
"The message that we want to get out to would-be thieves is that it's a criminal offence to steal a bike and that the next bike you might consider stealing could actually belong to the police," he said.
Bait bikes are covertly equipped with GPS trackers. Once the lock is broken and the bike is in motion, police zero in on the bike's location to make the arrest, De Jong explained.
With bike thefts seeming to be on the increase from year to year, police are hoping the bait bike program will be part of a larger movement to deter thieves.
"It's going to take the community to reduce those rates," De Jong said.
Police urge cyclists to record their serial numbers, lock up their bikes, and report thefts to police immediately.
Lucas Brown, 31, is charged with theft and possession of stolen property. He has no fixed address.
