When I worked in the stockroom of,um....a store(doesn't matter which one),at one points our shrink rate(how much was getting stolen) was 22%. That means 22% of our merchandise was walking out the door. I'm sure the bike theft rate in the DC area is no where near 22%.

2 reasons bike theft is a problem:improperly secured,hard to ID. I've seen lots of bikes locked up in ways that ranged from improper to just plain stupid,or that weren't even locked at all. Plus bikes usually don't have the paper trail cars do. Cars have serial #'s in several places,plus license plates,parking decals,road tax discs,etc. And you have an owner's card,insurance card,paperwork for the loan;all kinds of paper that ID the vehicle and prove it's yours.