The University of Wisconsin Police Department is warning students to take precautions against bike thefts — a week after recovering 600 likely stolen bikes.

The exact number of bikes stolen is uncertain, although UWPD found more than 1,000 bikes in four different locations around Madison, with 600 of them having serial numbers, UWPD Chief Susan Riseling said in a news conference Tuesday.

It will be easier for UWPD to determine the charges against the suspects, Duane J. Tessmer, 53, Town of Madison, and Michael J. Bingen, 57, Village of Muscoda, as soon as people reclaim their stolen bikes and UWPD knows how many were actually stolen, Riseling said.

UWPD seizes 600 stolen bikes after dismantling “chop-shop” operation

UWPD spokesperson Marc Lovicott said he sees bike theft as a major issue in some areas surrounding UW’s campus.

“We’ve seen a really big increase, luckily not here on campus, but on the outskirts of campus where there’s drug use,” Lovicott said. “People need money to feed those drug habits and oftentimes they turn to theft.”

Stealing a bike is usually a crime committed with little to no planning, as some see it as an easy opportunity, Lovicott said.

UWPD has been conscious of reminding people to take precautions and securely lock their bikes up, especially around this time of the year when the weather warms up, he said.

“I would say it’s very common for us to deal with [bike theft] even more than once on a daily basis when the weather gets nicer and more and more people are using their bikes,” Lovicott said.

Lovicott said he believes the number of bike thefts on campus has remained steady over the years. One of the reasons theft has stayed so low, he said, could be due to the Bike Bait program, which has been prevalent on campus for the past few years, he said.

The program is designed to catch bike thieves as well as prevent thefts.

UWPD places dummy bikes in areas where they see frequent theft, Lovicott said. GPS units are attached to the bikes and an alert is sent to officers’ phones when the bikes are moved. The department can then track movement in real time on a map, he said.

The Bait Bike program has attracted attention across the country from other police departments, Lovicott said.

“We’ve led the way in this effort,”  Lovicott said. “Other police departments have looked to us in guidance on how to start their own Bait Bike program. It’s clear that it works, and it’s something that we will continue to improve upon.”

It is also important for bike owners to take precautions and register their bikes, Linda Pergola, bicycle registration coordinator for the city of Madison, said.

“If you have a current registration and the bike is stolen and the bike is recovered, we can get it back to you,” Pergola said.

UWPD also distributes stickers to pedestrians for free that read, “This could be a UWPD Bait Bike,” and encourage people to stick them on their bikes in hopes they will deter criminals, he said.

“It’s not like we’ve got a thousand bike thefts out there. There’s a handful of people that are out there that are responsible for a large number of bike thefts and our goal is to get to those people and hopefully it brings the number of thefts down greatly,” Lovicott said.