Bicycle theft is a huge problem in Palo Alto and Menlo Park. Bicycle theft is one of the biggest reasons that people drive around town instead of bicycling and risking having your bicycle stolen at your destination. Other cities around the Bay Area are using "bait bikes" with GPS trackers to bust professional thieves. Are local police departments doing anything like this? Stealing a nice bicycle is felony grand theft, so police really need to treat this crime seriously.

Bait bicycles do need to be done. Expensive bikes fetch a good price when sold.

If concerned about theft, how about riding a less expensive bike? They're much less likely to get stolen, and oftentimes just as good for getting around (and cause less worry and stress, etc).