Bike Thief Alert #1

If this guy has stolen a bike from you or tries to sell this bike call the police. Otherwise keep your eyes open and lets get him arrested.

http://philadelphia.craigslist.org/bik/4049087259.html

There is a man by the name of Anthony that is acting, as he is interested in buying a bike from you. He comes to your house, asks for a test ride, and then steals the bikes never to return. His phone number is 267-603-0409 and 267-254-8823. He is a white male 5"11 or 6"0 black hair about 180 pounds. He pretends to be alone as soon as he rides around the corner he has a buddy that helps him get away. He just did it to me. If you see this man or hear from this man, or this has happened to you. Please call the Philadelphia Police Department. I have filed a report on him with all his information. The Police know where he lives. Send me an email to let me know if this happen or you hear from him thanks
this is the bike he stole.

Nobody Expects the Spanish Inquisition

In a recent article on Philly.com the Philadelphia Police Department is taking action against bicycle thieves. Bike theft is a problem within Philadelphia with 11,000 bicycles stolen between 2007 and 2012 and since bike theft is an under-reported crime I have no doubt the number is much higher.

What the PPD does is leave an unlocked bait bike in an area with lots of pedestrian traffic, wait for someone to take it, and then arrest them. This is nothing more than a morality test designed to catch an opportunistic thief. It is very close to entrapment and will likely result in most cases being dismissed. The example in the article with the undercover officers arresting one man reminded me more of the Monty Python Spanish Inquisition sketch. A lot of smoke and noise that has no real effect.




Instead Philadelphia Police Officer Joe Ferrero and his team should be of targeting bike thieves who deliberately steal bikes by cutting locks. The ones who are the real problem. By using expensive bait bikes equipped with a GPS tracker and a basic lock. When someone cuts the lock and steals the bike undercover officers track that person back to their home. Which may result in the recovery of other stolen items and the people who help them store and sell stolen goods.

Officer Joe Ferrero's tactics are superficial at best. While the arrests of bike thieves he generates may look good statistically. In reality they don't deal with the problem of the professional bike thief who works with tools to steal bikes

Driving = Fun?

Tanner Foust, professional stunt and race car driver and host of many automative racing shows including “Top Gear”, wants to reverse the decline in people getting their drivers licenses by making it his mission to keep driving fun.

Mr. Foust, read someplace he can't remember, that 16 year-olds don't consider getting a drivers license a priority. He also doesn't remember what was a priority was but he thinks its technology. He feels the reason kids don't hang out in person is because they can communicate online instead of driving to someones house. Mr Foust fervently believes that we live a country “that is driven in large part by the automotive industry, and the idea of that going away just because we don’t need to drive in order to hang out with our friends in the next generation scares the crap out of me.”

As the host of the TV show “Top Gear he is paid to drive cars though malls and skip them across a lake like you skip a stone.


In the real world no one needs the razor sharp reflexes and years of training to drive in traffic like this:


Mr. Foust is paid a lot of money to race custom designed race cars that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars and require millions of dollars per year for a team of mechanics, travel to races and the expensive fees needed to enter them. In the real world cars, even used ones, are expensive to purchase, repair, and insure. On the other hand if you live in a city like Philadelphia there is plenty public transportation, bicycle infrastructure, and car share companies to meet your needs without having to own a car.

The days when when people chose to live in the suburbs are changing, for a growing number of people they want the access a city provides. The ability to live and work in the same community, to have access to a wide range of restaurants and entertainment, and the diverse people who make this possible. All without having to drive or assume the cost of car ownership.

Mr. Foust has watched movies about the future and he his frightened that in these movies people travel in some sort of self driving pod with no contact with the world around them. Yet when he encourages people, as a resident of Washington state, to drive into the mountains or up Pikes Peak all they are doing is traveling in pods of metal and glass. Its one thing to drive to a mountain top and look at the view, its a different experience when one hikes the mountain and sees nature up close.

By all means if you need a car to travel to these wonderful places like Pikes Peak, do so. But for day to day life do we really need the stress of traffic jams, aggressive drivers, and the ever changing cost of gasoline? People like Mr Foust who cling to the past instead of helping to shape the future scare the crap out of me.

It's a Small World After All

No matter where in the world cyclists live they experience the same issues and concerns. In this video from Saudi Arabia we meet two bike commuters who face the same challenges like riding in traffic. Or co-workers who view bike commuting as not acceptable for work. As well as the reasons why some people turn bike commuting; avoiding traffic jams, parking, and the cost of operating a car.


One young man talks about how when he arrives at work he feels much more energized and that he no longer has to park in the distant employee parking lot. Now he parks with royalty, management. And like many established nations obesity has become a problem in Saudi Arabia. Demonstrated when the older cyclist in the red and white Jordanian style shemagh visits his tailor. You can see the significant weight loss that has occurred after he started car-light lifestyle.


While the video is in Arabic, if you click the “cc” button on the bottom right hand side of the Youtube screen you will be able to view English subtitles.When you start the video the "cc" button will appear.

Karma and the Bike Thief

While I do agree with the police about the risk of taking matters into your own hands. But when in doubt and if the serial number matches, steal it back. I'd just have a few friends slightly out of sight in case of problems.

http://www.adventure-journal.com/2013/08/the-daily-bike-woman-steals-bike-back-from-thief/

Everybody loves karmic justice, or at least a happy ending. Kayla Smith, a Vancouver bartender, had her new Masi road bike stolen from a friend’s house last week. She called the police, who were ineffective. Then a friend saw what looked like her Masi for sale on Craigslist, so she called the police again. Once more, their response was lacking, so she took matters into her own hands

“I called the guy up and made arrangements to meet him in half an hour at the main street McDonalds,” Smith wrote on Reddit under the user name girlgetsbikeback. “When I pulled into the parking lot I still had no plan of attack. I got there and saw the guy with my bike. He was wearing board shorts, a raggy tank top and dark sketchy glasses. I noticed that it was my bike right away because of the RIDE ON stickers on the frame [RIDE ON is the shop where she bought it] and the fact I have a silver handle bar plug on the left and a black one on the right. A description I gave to the police already. Here is where I started thinking on my feet.

“I asked the guy if I could take it for a ride around the parking lot. He was weary and said “yeah but don’t take off…” I said not to worry that I would even think of it! My heart was pounding and I had no idea what to do so I just got on the bike and was like fuck this guy and started to ride. As I was riding away, I called my friend who was driving to meet me as backup. I rode to the adjacent parking lot where she was pulling into as I was riding. We watched the guy start to look for me and he got super freaked out and he suddenly just took off running.”

Smith told Canadian news outlets, ” “I was just gleaming. I literally jumped around like a six year old getting an ice cream cone. It was ridiculous. I was like ‘Oh my God!’ I was doing booty shaking dances all over the parking lot.”

Vancouver police predictably cautioned people not to take bike theft matters into their own hands. “We can arrange those types of meetings. We can do exactly what she did, but with the safety of having the police involved.” said Vancouver Police Constable Brian Montague.

Well, yeah. But you didn’t.