Eleven bicycles have been stolen from a variety of locations on campus since the beginning of 2011, and seven of the thefts occurred in the past two weeks.

Most of the stolen bikes had been attached to bike racks with cable locks, which are not as secure as metal U-locks, according to Joseph Smith, associate director of the Department of Public Safety.

John Accarino (COL ’14) discovered Sunday that his bicycle had been stolen from the bike rack just outside Darnall Hall.

“I came outside Sunday morning, my chain was clipped, and the bike was gone,” Accarino said. “You could see that they used a hedge clipper.”

Accarino said he thought that the thief would probably sell his bicycle for scrap metal.

“My bike was such a piece of junk. The brakes don’t work,” he said. “It’s been my bike since I was 12 years old.”

Bikes have also been stolen from racks outside Village A, O’Donovan Hall, Reynolds, Copley, the Hariri Building and Yates Fields House, among other campus locations.

This increase in bike thefts marks a reversal of recent trends, according to Smith. The number of bike thefts had gone down over the past several years, he said.

There were 30 bike thefts in 2009 and 44 bike thefts in 2010, according to DPS crime log archives.

Campus police are taking measures to address the recent surge in bike thefts, Smith said.

“DPS has stepped up its uniform patrols of the bike racks and plans to take other operational measures as well,” Smith said in an email.

Meanwhile, Smith urged students to be cautious.

“We recommend that students use the U-locks for their bikes, to check their bikes frequently and to report suspicious persons around the bike racks to DPS,” Smith said in an email.