Protect and Serve?

In May 2015 Philadelphia cyclist Ron Deets was punched and dragged from the street. While the incident was captured on video by an eyewitness. The Philadelphia Police officers who responded refused to take any action. Claiming that because they had not witnessed it no crime had been committed. It was not until local media picked up the story did the police agree to investigate.

Now, once again, the Philadelphia Police department has failed again.

On Tuesday, August 26 at 4pm local Philly cyclist Katie Mundie was riding South on 11th St near the 200 block with her two sons, ages 5 & 7, in her cargo bike. When she had an encounter of the worst kind and she got it all on video with her GoPro camera.

Warning this video contains graphic language.

When Ms. Mundi went to the 3rd District police station to file a complaint according to her their response was; “At first they said they could not do anything but I explained because of the C-word it was gender based harassment. Then they took my statement and said they would run the plates. But they did not expect anything to happen. They said if I have another run in with the same driver then there would be something they could do.”

While I am not a lawyer and I do not play one on TV. After watching the video I believe the driver was clearly harassing, threatening, and intimidating Ms Mundie and her two young children. So much so that her 7 year old son had a nightmare that night, “thinking that the guy was going to come after him.”

I also believe that the unwillingness of the police officers at the 3rd district to follow through on a valid complaint was reprehensible. Especially in light of the fact that this was not a case of she said, he said. Nor did Ms. Mundie do anything to provoke this. The video speaks for itself.

So what can be done? I am asking everyone to tweet this post along with a personal comment to the following people below. So the police enforce the laws we are expected to follow and protect other parents and their children from this egregious behavior.

3rd District Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell

http://phlcouncil.com/council-members/councilwoman-jannie-blackwell-3rd-district/councilwoman-jannie-blackwell-contact/

@CouncilwomanJLB

Captain Frank Milillo (3rd District)

police.co_03@phila.gov

@PPD03Dist

Mayor Michael Nutter

https://www.facebook.com/mayornutter?fref=ts

@Michael_Nutter

Mayor’s Office of Transportation and Utilities

@PhillyMOTU

ABC Local News

@NBCPhiladelphia

Fox Network Local News

@FOX29philly

CBS local news

@CBSPhilly

NBC local news

@NBCPhiladelphia

Thank You Captain Brian Korn

On an almost daily basis the bike lane at 13th St between Arch and Filbert  is blocked by marked and unmarked police and civilian vehicles. Most likely because they have business at the Municipal Courthouse. Fortunately all of these individuals have alternative options for parking. On one side of the street is an official police parking lot and on the other a public parking garage. Unfortunately there are those who chose not to avail themselves of these choices. 

The Philadelphia Bicycle Journal would like to recognize Captain Brian Korn (@PPDBrianKorn) of the Philadelphia Police Department, 6th District for making an effort to help unblock the bike lane at 13th between Arch St. and Filbert St. On several occasions this sign has been sighted.

Captain Korn should be commended for taking the initiative to address this matter. I can only hope that the Philadelphia Police Department will institute a permanent solution.

Protect and Serve

When it comes to the #unblockbikelanes and the Philadelphia Police Department they have a unique relationship. There is the WaWa at 22nd St. & Lombard where the bike lane is treated as an active loading zone, which encourages civilians to park in the bike lane as well. At 13th St. & Arch you can expect the bike lane to be blocked by six police cars on a daily basis, due to its proximity to the courthouse. This one is particularly frustrating as there is a gated lot for police parking on one side of the street and a public parking garage on the other.

Over the Labor Day weekend the Philadelphia Police Department had to add insult to injury at the bike lane on Spruce St. between 38th & 39th. Traffic cones were placed along Spruce St. between 38th and 39th, creating a buffered bike lane. To keep people from using the bike lane as quick parking for the WaWa and other restaurants on that block. This didn’t stop the PPD from repeatedly parking in the lane to block access to it, as confirmed by this Twitter thread.

Now I get it, on duty police officers need their breaks and an opportunity to eat just like everyone else. They also need to stay close to to their vehicles, but to deliberately block a buffered bike lane means a cyclist can’t go around the offending vehicle and get back into the bike lane. They have to ride the length of the street putting themselves at risk and impeding the flow of traffic.

So what is the solution? I don’t think the the PPD will have the same sense of humor as the Philadelphia Parking Authority did when Kid Hazo ticketed one of their vehicles.

Even some kind of polite form letter may not work, people get very touchy when you a lay a finger on their car. Its really going to take a change of the internal culture of the PPD. A good start would be with buffered bike lanes and 13th St. & Arch.

#findourbikes

On the Philadelphia Stolen Bikes Facebook page a Twitter campaign of #findourbikes has been suggested. Any person who has their bicycle stolen in Philadelphia would tweet an image of the bike, with a description of the bike, and the location where it was stolen.

This would be an alternative to the traditional street protest. Imagine once month people who had their bikes stolen in Philadelphia stood outside Philadelphia Police Headquarters at 720 Race St for five minutes in a silent protest. In time its going to draw media attention and will be hard to ignore. In today's society social media can act as a global driver towards the resolution of many issues. Wth media, business, government, and individuals tweeting and reading tweets. It would be a matter of time and patience before the #findourbikes could become a force for positive change.

In 2012 the reported number of bike thefts in Philadelphia was 162 bikes per month. If you factor in the number unreported thefts, in my opinion, the number would be three or four times higher. I realize that Philadelphia has a very high rate of violent crime and murder and the police have only a certain amount of resources to go around. Perhaps if there were periodic sweeps to deal with quality of life crimes. We might find that some of the more serious problems will become easier to deal with.

In the meantime tweet your stolen bikes to #findourbikes @PhillyPolice.

Locked and Loaded

A bicycle was stolen in Philadelphia on Wednesday. But unlike any other cyclist who can only file a police report and hope that maybe it will be recovered. The effort to find and arrest this thief will receive the maximum effort that the Philadelphia Police Department can afford. For this was not just any bike, this was a Philadelphia Police Department bike. In other words it was an official police vehicle. Stolen at 12:00pm at Broad & Moore the miscreant rode the bike for three miles and abandoned at 13th & Girard where it was recovered.

This is not the first time this happened to the Philadelphia Police Department. It just goes to show you that no matter what kind of bike you ride if you don’t lock it up someone will steal it.

Its moments like this when I have to ask myself; What grade would Hal Ruzal give the Philadelphia Police Department when they lock their bikes?

Bike Thief Alert #2 - Arrested

 Meet DJ Domie or Papi D as he likes to call himself. Business man, DJ, and alleged bicycle thief. We have to use the word alleged because he has not been convicted in court....yet.

I am an alleged bike thief

I am an alleged bike thief

I am an alleged DJ

About two months ago this Bianci bicycle was stolen in the vicinity of South 22^nd St and St. Albans in North East Philadelphia.

 and in late August this ad appeared on Craigslist;

http://philadelphia.craigslist.org/bik/4031719655.html

I Have A Bianchi bike that i want to sell lookin for best offer and no not no 7,8, 900 dollars for it look it up before you offer lookin for a far price is not a cheap bike.


A member of the Philadelphia Stolen Bikes Facebook page spotted it and alerted the owner who posted the stolen bike. A meet was set up to look at the bike which included under cover and uniformed officers from the Philadelphia Police Department. Once the owner identified the bike an arrest was made. After that it was all down hill for alleged bike thief DJ Domie/Papi D. and alleged comedian. When he claimed "his cousin who is the number one rider in philly gave it to him".

So now what? Before everyone runs out to the hardware store to buy pitchforks and torches to form an angry mob. DJ Domie/Papi D. brought a concealed and loaded hand gun with him, he most likely will be charged with a felony, and spend some time in prison. Its also safe to assume his friends have a similar affinity towards concealed weapons, so visiting his neighborhood would not be a good idea.

What you can do is share this post with everyone you know. You never know who is going to see it and what they may be able to do.