We have a lot of bicycles in the Netherlands, we really are a cycling country. We have approximately 6200 kilometers of cycle paths in the Netherlands. This also means that unfortunately many bicycles are stolen, which costs our society a lot of money. In the report bicycle theft in the Netherlands, which was made by Bureau Beke, the Stichting Aanpak Fiets- en E-bikeediefstal (SAFE) states that bicycle theft costs society no less than six hundred million euros. This is partly due to a failing preventive and repressive approach to enforcement of bicycle theft in the Netherlands.

Jeroen Snijders Blok, chairman of SAFE says: 'The Bureau Beke report shows that consumers often do not lock their bicycles properly, that victims only report bicycle theft because the insurance asks for it, that rental organizations such as Swapfiets are contending with thousands of missing bicycles, that the revenue model of insurers is under pressure and that Eastern European gangs are stealing large numbers of expensive bicycles to bring them across the border in full vans. On top of this, the National Police announced at the time of the investigation that it would no longer give priority to bicycle theft. The current approach is inadequate, both preventively and repressively. To turn the tide, it is necessary that all parties in the chain, with the same goal in mind, work together on the approach proposed by Bureau Beke '

The increase in bicycle theft is also related to the large increase in expensive models of electric bicycles, sports bicycles and cargo bicycles. The so-called Swap bicycles are also frequently stolen. These expensive bicycles are very attractive to the thieves. Large student cities, stations and squares are attractive places for bicycle thieves. Bicycle theft is the property crime with the lowest willingness to report; citizens do not see the point because they expect or have experienced that nothing will be done with it. In 2010, 40.899 bicycles were registered and in the third quarter of 2019 there were 475.277, with most of the stolen registered bicycles coming from the East Netherlands police unit. The bicycle brand Gazelle is very popular among thieves.

Also read: Airline passengers can opt for an empty middle seat