San Francisco’s Police Department is using Twitter to reduce bike thefts

The San Francisco bike community has hailed the San Francisco Police Department’s “bait bike” program. The Board of Supervisors allocated $75,000 to support efforts against bike theft, including money for bait bikes and tracking equipment last summer. Officer Matt Friedman, who runs the @SFPDbiketheft Twitter account, plants bikes around the The City. If they are stolen, then Friedman and his team use a GPS beacon planted on the bikes to track them down and catch the culprits. The plan has received some flak since its inception.