Lacey Taylor drew on personal experience in her essay to identify a problem on her campus and to propose solutions for it.

1

Imagine one day waking up to find that your car had been stolen. To many students, a bicycle is just like a car. They depend on their bicycles for all their transportation needs, getting to and from classes and work. Too many bicycles are being stolen on campus, and this situation has become a major problem for students who depend on them. In the past year, one friend has had two new bicycles stolen. Just three months ago, I went home for the weekend, and when I got back, my bicycle was gone. I could not believe that anyone would do such a horrible thing, but I was wrong, and someone did do it. This theft was a major blow to me because my bicycle was my only transportation to work. I am not the only person and will not be the last to have my bicycle taken, so something should be done and should be done soon. The campus community should use methods such as posting warning signs, starting an awareness program, and investing in new technology like cameras, chain alarms, and tracking devices to help solve this problem.

2

Although many solutions are available to help alleviate this problem, some may be as simple as posting signs. Signs are a cheap and easy way to alleviate bike theft. The signs should read that bicycle theft is a crime, punishable by law, and they should explain the consequences that go along with stealing bicycles. The signs would need to be posted at all the bicycle racks just like the signs posted at every parking spot warning about being a tow-away zone. These signs would not completely solve the problem, but they would discourage some potential bicycle thieves.

3

The school also needs to begin a bicycle-theft awareness program. The program should inform students about bicycle theft, warning that it happens all the time and that it could happen to them. The program also would need to tell students about certain steps that they could take to avoid becoming victims of bike theft. For example, it could provide information about different methods of bicycle security such as keeping the serial number in case the bike is stolen and engraving a name on the bike so that it can be easily identified. The program also should tell students what to do if a bicycle is actually stolen such as calling the police and filing a report. This awareness program would prevent many students from ending up with stolen bicycles.

4

A more advanced method for solving this problem would be to install security cameras all around campus. The cameras would keep track of all the activity going on at the bicycle racks and let the person watching the camera know if someone is stealing a bicycle. If no one sees the illegal act take place, then the camera tape could be pulled, watched, and used as evidence against the bike thief. For this solution to succeed, the cameras should be placed a certain way, all facing the bike racks and close enough for a viewer to tell what is going on at the racks. The cameras also need to be in plain sight for everyone to see so that anyone considering stealing a bicycle would think twice before acting. After all, no one wants to be caught doing something illegal on camera. Finally, these cameras should be linked to a TV in the lobby of each dorm. Keeping an eye on the TV, watching for any strange activity, should be part of the job of the resident assistant on duty. The resident assistant then could report a bicycle being stolen to the campus police. These cameras would not only ward off some potential criminals but also help to catch the ones who were not scared off.

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A creative solution would be to invest in chain alarms. These chains contain small wires; if the chains are cut, an alarm in the lock goes off just like a car alarm. This alarm would alert people nearby that someone was stealing a bicycle. The sound also might scare the thief into dropping the bike and running off. These chains could be rented out to students by the transportation department. If the rental cost around ten dollars a semester, the chains would pay for themselves over a short period of time and eventually make a profit for the transportation department. If someone never returned the chain at the end of the semester, the student should be fined, and a hold should be placed on his or her account just as the library does with book fines that must be paid before graduation. These chains would help to catch the bike thieves and also, just like the signs and cameras, help to scare off potential thieves.

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Finally tracking devices could be placed on all campus bicycles. This would be the most effective solution to the bicycle theft problem because these tracking devices would come into play if all the other solutions failed to do the job. These devices should be small and placed in a hard-to-find spot on the bicycle. If a bike is stolen, then the bike could be traced on a campus police computer and its location identified. Then the police could go through the proper procedure to catch the thief. These tracking devices could be rented out just like the bicycle chains. Even though this method would not stop bicycles from being stolen, it would make it easy to find the bikes and catch the thieves.

7

Bicycle theft is a major problem that deserves attention. Too many bicycles are being stolen, and bikes are too important to everyday campus life to let this problem go unnoticed. The campus should use simple methods such as posting warning signs or sponsoring an awareness program and also invest in new technology like cameras, chain alarms, and tracking devices to help solve this problem. Bicycle riders should be aware that theft is a problem that could happen to them at any time, but bicycle thieves should not be able to take whatever they like with no action being taken against them. Bicycles, like cars, provide essential transportation, and no one wants to have that necessity stolen.

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