Security officials at the University of Toronto say their innovative use of satellite technology to nab bike thieves has led to a "dramatic decrease" in the number of stolen bikes on campus.

Launched two months ago, the school's "Bike Bait" program tracks the thieves with a global positioning system device (GPS) planted on several bicycles left in high-theft areas around the downtown campus.

Peter Franchi, a special constable with U of T's campus police, credited the decrease in part to media exposure, as well as the arrests police have been making.

He said the technology allowed his team to catch four thieves in just one day in October.

"We were very busy on that particular day," Franchi told the CBC on Wednesday.

'One step ahead'

Since that day, only one bike has been stolen in the past six weeks, down from the average rate of two to three bikes a week vanishing from campus before the program was started, Franchi said. 

The team sets up a "geo-fence," or an invisible electronic fence around the tagged bike. When the bike moves out of that fence, Franchi gets an alert on his BlackBerry and officers on standby are called into action.

"We're instantly able to tell the bike is in motion," Franchi said. "It keeps us one step ahead."

Once tracked down and arrested, the thieves are usually shocked that campus police are doing something about bike theft. But they aren't told how the officers caught them with such ease.

"We don't give up our secrets too often," Franchi said. 

He added those caught are mostly "outside community members" and not students or staff at the university.

They are charged with theft under $5,000 or possession of stolen property.

The program — which is based on a similar initiative by police in Victoria that led to a 19 per cent decrease in bike thefts — will continue well into 2007, Franchi added.