During the period of 19th April to 29th April, Kinloch Lodge has suffered from sporadic bike thefts. In total, around six bikes have been stolen at random intervals from inside ANU bike sheds at Kinloch. Notably, most bikes in the ACT are stolen from Canberra’s Civic area, right next to Kinloch. Last year in the ACT, 797 bikes were reported stolen, a figure which is on the rise annually.

Kinloch told Woroni that they had requested more patrol from ANU security around the perimeter of the building to minimise the threat of thieves taking bikes. For those residents whose bikes were already stolen, Kinloch has provided them with CCTV footage of the period the bike was removed from the bike shed for the AFP Canberra, in order to help them identify any perpetrators. 

Kinloch has also emailed all residents to alert them to the threat of possible bike thefts, encouraging residents to watch for any tailgaters, and to call ANU security if they see any inappropriate or unusual activity around the building. They have also put up posters for information, cautioning all bike users to be more careful and to get stronger bike locks to protect their bikes from theft.  

In November last year, the ACT became the 2nd jurisdiction to join an online community platform — Bikelinc — that links stolen or missing bikes with their rightful owner. However, as far as Kinloch knows at the moment, no thieves have been identified and the bikes remain unaccounted for. 

All Canberrans can report bike thefts as soon as they happen to ACT Policing on 131 444. Anyone with information that could assist police can contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or via the Crime Stoppers Act website.