Back when I was in college, in the 1980's, I lived in a house that was abandoned by the Frat community. It was a tired rental property, in a tired neighborhood, but it was close to school and set up for multi people cohabitation. So, we had a dozen dudes living in the same house, with almost all of us owning a bicycle. I can only recall a single dude who hadn't had a bike stolen while on campus or our neighborhood near campus, and it might have been because he didn't own one (he was a cowboy farmer sorta dude). The police culture on campus put out zero effort to recover stolen bicycles, so it pointless to even report one stolen. No one ever had their bicycle recovered, and the campus police scoffed at you for their effort they had to put out to even let you report a stolen bicycle. And it may have been pointless to "ugly up" your bicycle, because maybe part of the reason for stealing them in the first place was just the thrill seeking. It's a good example of why creating laws isn't enough... you actually have to enforce them. That was my experience; I'm sure others had theirs, which may or may not match mine.