ASU PD began Operation Electric Slide four years ago with the intention of addressing the prevalence of bike and scooter theft on campus by raising awareness among students and providing them with strategies to protect their property.

Analysis from ASU PD revealed enabling conditions for theft on campus included the widespread use of vulnerable cable locks that can be cut easily, blind spots in surveillance and low rates of vehicle registration. 

ASU offers free vehicle registration for students through Project 529, however ASU PD’s analysis from 2022 revealed that 75% of stolen vehicles were not registered, limiting recovery.  

ASU PD Crime Prevention Programs Manager Jason Weber said “we’re working on educating students through housing.” 

Weber said that they inform students about registering their vehicles with Project 529 and using a U-lock through floor meetings and hanging signs in and around the dorm buildings. 

Since he began working on Operation Electric Slide in 2022, Weber said he has seen personal mobility device theft go from a peak of 507 incidents a year down to 356 incidents as well as a 39% decrease in financial loss since 2022. 

Weber said he attributes a majority of the success of Operation Electric Slide to the department’s ability to reach students.

“We’ve been tracking the use of U-locks and we’ve seen an increase in that. We’re seeing more people knowing their serial numbers and getting their devices registered which is good,” Weber said. 

Project 529 Chief Outreach Officer Rob Brunt, a former police officer, said “what ASU’s [police] department does really well is they’re proactive, they’re doing information campaigns for the students.” 

Brunt  said he thinks being proactive is important, because “it is better to be proactive than reactive when it comes to these things.”

According to account manager at Project 529, Alexander Brand, ASU currently has 3,477 vehicles registered, with 256 reported stolen and 14 reported recovered. 

However,  Brand said to keep in mind that “sometimes bicycles are recovered, but the owner doesn’t always go back on the platform and mark that it has been recovered, which can skew results,” on recovered vehicles. 

Brunt said that after 10 years with Project 529 he’s noticed that “a third of recoveries are police, a third of recoveries are stores, and a third of recoveries are the people in the cycling community.”

“That’s the power of the system. It’s not a police app, it's the cycling community all working together to get the bike back,”  Brunt said.