The difficulty with bicycle crime is multifold.
Firstly, in the vast majority of cases, no-one was hurt, the bike was of low value or medium value and insured. The insurance firm coughs up.
Secondly, let's say that I go up to bikes locked up all day by the station and get my lock loppers out. If I am noticed or recorded on CCTV wearing my balaclava there is no easy way of identifying me. If I keep going back, potentially I could be nabbed but the chances are that I haven't left a van somewhere that my plates can be recorded and ANPR used to track me. I'm probably going to cycle the bike away half a mile or so to somewhere where I parked the van and chuck it in the back. The van is probably nicked anyway.
Thirdly, lets say that the coppers have identified me as the bike thief. They have to present a case to the CPS that I have been nicking bikes and have sufficient evidence the the CPS believe that they can secure a conviction in Court. So if they only have evidence of a couple of bikes I'm looking at a category 3 or 4. The first thing my Barrister is going to do is present a story that I am working for a Mr Big somewhere else nicking bikes to order and that I am doing so through coercion. This gets me a category C. Combine the two and I'm looking at a fine and possible low level community order. Even with a B I'm going to probably manage to get off with a low level community order or worst case a few weeks custody.
Of course, for a petty theft such as Bicycle theft I could be waiting up to 5 years for a Court date as there are 300,000 cases in front of me. I'm not going to be kept in prison whilst I wait. So I'll just go and nick some more bikes.
Dominic Defund-the-Justice-System Raab is responsible for this along with the other 9 ministers we have had since 2015 including such greats as Truss, Failing Grayling, Gauke and Buckland. The only incumbent who achieved anything at all was Brandon Lewis who actually met Barristers and agreed a pay rise.
The Police have their hands tied. Without a working, efficient Justice system there is no point in wasting resources catching petty criminals. Best case is to keep tracking the bike thefts and hopefully one day get enough evidence to find Mr Big.