Bike thefts on UNM's campus are up this semester.
Not just up - drastically up.
According to UNMPD figures, 67 bikes were reported stolen from campus between Aug. 1 and the middle of October this year.
During that same time period in 2002, 10 bikes were reported stolen to the UNM Police Department.
The increase not only has police trying to figure out why so many bikes have been stolen, but who is stealing them.
"We don't know," said UNMPD Cmdr. James Daniels. "That's why we are really concerned about this."
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Daniels said his department noticed an increase in bike thefts this semester and decided to take a closer look at its records.
"They have gone up dramatically," he said. "We're doing some selective enforcement on the problem."
But for some victims, new efforts to reduce bike theft are coming too late.
UNM sophomore Patrick McNeely reported to police on Nov. 26 that someone stole his $2,600 Gary Fisher mountain bike.
"The cops told me that my brand of bike was a popular brand of bike to be stolen and that there had been a lot of (bike) thefts this year," McNeely said. "And that chances are I'll never see it again."
McNeely, who rides what he calls his "campus bike" to school everyday, chose to ride his mountain bike he uses for competitive racing to UNM that day because it had been in the shop for the past four weeks.
His bike was locked up for about an hour in between Ortega Hall and the Humanities building during his one class of the day.
"I thought it would be safe," McNeely said. "I guess I was wrong."
Recent thefts would indicate that police still have a long way to go in stopping bike thefts.
Over a 14-day period, between Nov. 18 and Dec. 1, 14 bikes were reported stolen to campus police.
Daniels said that if people want to help reduce bike thefts on campus, they could do their part by calling police if they spot something suspicious.
