Three people in Greater Sudbury took to social media in the span of 24 hours earlier this month, asking for help to find four stolen motorbikes. The theft of Justin Pretty’s Emmo Zone II GTS was captured on his neighbour’s CCTV footage, which shows two people grabbing his motorbike and dragging it away. “My initial reaction was, just, honestly sad because like, how do you react to that?” Pretty said. He said he made sure he locked his bike, because the night before, his partner’s bike was stolen. “That was heartbreaking -- and then we were just going to share my bike,” Pretty said. “The next day I was sleeping because I had a day off and we woke up and my bike was gone, too.” Sudbury police Sgt. Cameron Kidder said the thefts don’t appear to be part of a series of thefts, but added that such incidents are becoming more common. “I can’t say that I’m aware of any pattern … where we have somebody going out and identifying and stealing bikes in a row,” Kidder said. “But it’s definitely something we’ll be looking into. If there are linkages, we will find the linkages and then we can investigate further.” Two other social media posts were also shared in Sudbury on July 20 about stolen e-bikes. Kidder said there has been an 83 per cent increase in e-bike thefts so far this month compared to June. “E-bikes are generally more expensive than bicycles,” he said. Higher value target “We’re finding that they’re a bit of a higher value target right now. And simple things that people can do is taking off one of the tires, taking the battery off … making sure that it is secure. So if it’s in a shed or a garage, make sure that that’s locked.” Pretty said his bike was locked with a standard bike lock but recommends a disc brake lock. “Because they’re loud as hell … you get a lock that actually screams when it gets cut,” he said. “Because I was looking at investing in one of those -- but it was a little too late.” Pretty said he and his girlfriend just moved into their building and now have lost their modes of transportation. He’s hoping that something can be done. “As a community, we need to band together and try to get action because we can’t keep allowing this in our city,” he said. “We have to really push for the police to really do something. Maybe talk to … city council and stuff because you’re hearing about this too much.” However, Pretty said he is grateful to his new neighbours and landlord for the security cam footage and hopes it helps police catch the thieves.
