Use a U-lock, folks. Here’s a map of bike thefts from the past week that were reported to the Seattle Police Department. Bike thefts are notoriously underreported, so this map is very likely incomplete.

If you have your bike stolen, please report it. Maybe it’s true that the police can’t/won’t do anything to get your bike back, but at least there will be a record for studying purposes. The more information available, the more likely bike theft rings will get broken.

If for whatever reason you do not want to go through the police, you can report thefts to BikeWise.org, a service of Cascade Bicycle Club. It’s an excellent tool for tracking bike thefts, crashes and hazards.