Stolen bikes and high heels

River Falls, Wisconsin sounds like a homey place. A couple of drunks stole a bike and, when confronted by police about an overheard conversation, actually confessed to the crime and showed the cops where the stolen bikes were at.

The young man and woman, one a college student, were eating Mexican at the local Mariachi Loco restaurant. The owner of the two stolen mountain bikes was also eating two tables away. He claimed to hear the woman tell her boyfriend that she couldn’t believe they’d stolen the bikes and that she’d pedaled hers in high heels!

In the River Falls Journal police blotter.

In San Francisco, bike thieves are targeting garages in Sunset and Richmond districts.

I think maybe it’s time for a Palo Alto bike security photographic audit, after reading these tales of woe from Stanford University Bike theft victims. According to Stanford Chief of Police Laura Wilson, as unemployment rates go up, the number of bike thefts also rises, and police officers can do very little to stop it. “There is a remarkable trend,” Wilson said. “If you look at the graph of the unemployment rate in Santa Clara County, and you put the graph of bicycle thefts over that, there are remarkable correlations.”

The article talks about Stanford student Lea Gee-Tong. She locked her bike to a rack with a U-lock at Palo Alto Caltrain station. Her bike missing four hours later. Here’s a photo of a nicely secured front wheel I shot at the Palo Alto Caltrain station a few weeks ago. I wonder if this is Gee-Tong’s bike.


Sad bicycle wheel

Do you remember Igor Kenk? He’s the bike shop owner in Toronto who stashed thousands of stolen bikes. The unclaimed bikes are going to needy children.

They treat the crime of bike theft seriously in Singapore, although there’s no mention of caning: “A man suspected of selling at least 60 stolen bicycles was caught red-handed by police near Bugis MRT station. If convicted, could be jailed up to five years and fined.

San Francisco: Police shoot maniac driving recklessly in a car.

SF Examiner LTE: Cyclists, quit blocking handicap transit platforms with your bikes.

Justice Baxter started riding a bike in 1992 to see a girl he liked. Today, he’s on the Board of the East Bay Bicycle Coalition. The girl is history.

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