Bicycle Thefts in Boulder — January 2023 – February 2024
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👉 Bicycle Thefts in Boulder — January 2023 – February 2024
About this report
This report documents bicycle theft incidents, recovery efforts, theft patterns, and related public-safety activity occurring in Boulder, Colorado using publicly available information including police reports, emergency radio traffic, court records, public records requests, community reports, and other official sources.
Boulder has long experienced unusually high levels of bicycle theft relative to its size, reflecting the city’s large cycling population, extensive bicycle infrastructure, high-value outdoor bike storage, and active secondary resale market for stolen bicycles.
The purpose of this archive is to preserve a structured public-interest record of bicycle theft activity in Boulder while documenting larger patterns that are often difficult to identify through isolated police reports or short-term news coverage alone.
The report includes both individual incidents and broader trends involving organized theft activity, repeat offenders, transient theft patterns, chop-shop style operations, bike recovery efforts, and theft hotspots throughout the city.
Why this report exists
Bicycle theft is one of Boulder’s most persistent and widely experienced property crimes, affecting students, commuters, recreational cyclists, delivery workers, and residents throughout the community.
Despite the frequency of these incidents, long-term public documentation of theft patterns has historically been fragmented across police reports, social media posts, neighborhood discussions, temporary online listings, and informal community tracking efforts.
This archive attempts to organize and preserve that information in a searchable and historically accessible format.
In some cases, the report also documents broader public-safety concerns associated with repeated theft activity, including encampment-related theft patterns, recovered-property investigations, possession of stolen bicycles, and repeat interactions involving known offenders.
Important notes regarding sources and methodology
Some incidents included in this archive were initially identified through real-time police radio traffic prior to the encryption of Boulder Police routine dispatch communications in October 2025.
Scanner traffic reflects information as initially reported to dispatchers and responding officers and may later prove incomplete or inaccurate.
Descriptions included in this archive generally reflect reported incidents, police investigations, or recovery efforts rather than adjudicated criminal findings.
Whenever possible, incidents were supplemented or cross-referenced using publicly available police reports, court records, media coverage, public records requests, or other official documentation.
Topics covered
This report includes incidents and trends involving:
- stolen bicycles,
- attempted thefts,
- organized theft activity,
- recovered bicycles,
- chop-shop style operations,
- repeat theft suspects,
- encampment-related theft investigations,
- bicycle stripping operations,
- online resale investigations,
- theft hotspots,
- and related public-safety activity occurring in Boulder.
The report is intended both as a historical archive and as a broader documentation of long-term bicycle theft patterns affecting the Boulder community.
Related reports
Additional Boulder Public Safety Project reports and archives are available through the main reports index.
Related reports include:
Boulder Public Safety 