Thieves target pedal power

Florida, with a nice push from the Tampa region, often leads the nation in some dubious data like the amount of auto insurance fraud and tax scams.

Now add bicycle theft to the list. Bike theft statewide increased an average of 5.1% annually each year from 2007 to 2011, according to an analysis of FBI Uniform Crime Report data by Glen Allen, Va.-based Markel Personal Lines Insurance. That translates to more than 17,800 stolen bicycles a year, the firm adds, and that doesn't include unreported thefts.

But there is a pushback against two-wheeled thievery. The Tampa police department, for example, created a bike registry to help combat a 12.6% increase in bicycle thefts in 2012. The department now places bait bikes with hidden GPS technology around the city and beach areas to catch a thief. A local news station in Miami, according to the Markel Personal Lines release, has also periodically placed bait bikes around the South Beach area.

“It's amazing how easily a bike can be stolen,” Markel Personal Lines Insurance President Audrey Hanken says in the statement. “We hear stories about bicycles being stolen from locked bike racks, cars, or even directly outside of their homes. We have also heard about thieves targeting hotels during bicycle road races, looking for opportunities to grab expensive bikes and run.”