Thousands of bikes are stolen every year and a large number of them are never recovered.
Patrick Reynolds' $8000 e-bike is among those. Three weeks ago, his ride was stolen from Britomart in Auckland.
CCTV footage has captured the thief using an angle grinder to break it free. Reynolds, who is a transport advocate, sought help from police but despite supplying clear photographs, and a live GPS location of the stolen bike, police said they didn't have enough "evidential sufficiency" to progress the investigation.
Speaking to Breakfast this morning, Reynolds said he’s frustrated by the situation, especially because he has anti-theft technology built into his bike to prevent this happening.
"There is a theft crime epidemic in Central Auckland, there's CCTV but it still needs humans to do their job."
He said his bike cost about US$5000, but the same bike can't be imported to New Zealand anymore.
"This does seem to be emblematic, I get the sense that police don't take bike theft seriously. I do have a car but I prefer to use the bike as it's quicker."
Reynolds said after getting no response to his online submission about the theft, he followed up in person at a police station. Two days later he got an email saying the information he had provided was "too historic".
"They are probably right, but the thing is it's so old because they didn't act in the first place."
In a statement to Breakfast, police said the information provided by the GPS wasn't sufficient to conduct a search warrant.
"CCTV of a person of interest was also obtained, however, however police were unable to positively identify the individual.
"We empathise with the informant, however Police require a certain level of evidential sufficiency to be able to progress an investigation, which officers were unable to reach in this instance."
Reynolds told Breakfast if anyone recognised the man captured in the footage, they should contact police immediately.
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