A bike was stolen from the University of Wisconsin Computer Sciences building on Nov. 5, coming as the latest theft in what UW Police Department spokesperson Marc Lovicott called a “huge issue” on campus.

The UW Police Department said it has no suspect information on the theft, but Lovicott said this is just one of many UWPD sees every year.

As a way of combating bike thefts, UWPD pioneered the “Bait Bike” program in 2008, Lovicott said.

UWPD plants a number of bikes equipped with GPS around campus, Lovicott said. If the bike exits the pre-defined area, UWPD is notified and can track the bike, eventually leading to the culprit, he said.

Lovicott said UWPD noticed a trend that bike thieves are usually repeat offenders.

“The idea behind [the Bait Bike program] is if a person steals a bike, more than likely they’ve stolen a bike before and may have done it many, many times,” Lovicott said.

A UWPD statement from September said bike thefts on campus dropped from 61 to 42 at the same time last year. The statement added Union South was the most popular site for bike thefts.

Lovicott said many departments from across the country have been asking UWPD how to implement the program.

“We’ve had huge success with the [Bait Bike] program, and we will keep using it,” Lovicott said.