The campus has seen more bicycle thefts in August than it has in any other month this year, according to LSU Police Department crime reports.Thirteen cases of stolen bicycles on campus had been reported as of Monday, while the average for the past seven months has been five reported cases per month.”We do see big trends, especially around this semester, of increased bike thefts,” said Sgt. Blake Tabor, LSUPD spokesman.Tabor said only about 20 percent of recovered bikes are returned to their owners.”A lot of that is attributed to not having the proper information,” he said.Tabor said the most important thing a student can do to protect his or her property is to record the bicycle’s serial number.”In our back lot, we probably have 200 bikes that I know probably belong to students here on campus, but we can’t verify that without the serial number,” he said.Another issue is locking the bicycles.”We do have quite a few bike thefts where the locks were cut, but the vast majority of the bikes we have that are stolen were not locked up,” Tabor said.Brennan Percy, president of the LSU Cycling Club and employee of The Bicycle Shop on Highland Road, said the two most common locks are U-locks and cable locks.Because U-locks are larger and bulkier, Percy said they are best for longer periods of time. U-locks are also the most durable and less likely to be cut through.Cable locks are lighter and less durable but are ideal for students who are locking up bikes between classes, Percy said.”Bike theft increases as the number of bikes increases,” Percy said. “But I ride my bike everywhere, and theft has never been a problem.”Percy said people usually come in every three to four days saying their bicycle was stolen.”My advice is to use a good lock, lock the bike appropriately and park it in a well-lit, high-traffic area,” Percy said.Percy said the lock must wrap around the frame, the wheel and the rack. Otherwise, people can steal a tire or sometimes more.”If you’re going to lock your bike to a bike rack, take your front tire with you,” Tabor said.Evan Jones, electrical engineering junior, said he always locks his bicycle at designated bicycle racks around campus with a pick-proof cable lock.”It’s an expensive bike,” Jones said. “I don’t want to risk it.”Alejandro Leyton, mechanical engineering sophomore, said he rides his bicycle to class every day and has never had an issue with bicycle theft.Tabor said police can input serial numbers into the National Crime Information Center, a nationwide database of stolen items, and items can be retrieved from anywhere in the country.”Anytime we stop a suspicious person, and they are riding a bike, we run that serial number every single time,” Tabor said. “Sometimes having those numbers is the only defining factor as to whether you get your items back or not.”—-Contact Sarah Eddington at [email protected]