The Chainlink

Stolen Bike Registry - do this when your bike gets stolen

"With all the stolen bike posts lately (and no one thinking "I wonder if there's something under Useful Links for this."), I think it's well past time to make a sticky about the Stolen Bike Registry"

 - Tank-Ridin' Ryan

 

Well said Ryan.

 

 

http://chicago.stolenbike.org/

 

Done and done.

 

And sticky too.

 

 

Cheers - Lee Diamond

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Julie Aberman (Hochstadter) on August 16, 2012 at 5:46pm

that's not a bad idea if you can get to it.  H' gave me great advice when I recovered mine. anyone can message me and I'll walk them through what I did.

Sean Struble said:

The best idea I've heard is to carry around an extra lock and lock it up if you spot it. Then call the cops. That way they can't flee on it.
Permalink Reply by JT on August 22, 2012 at 9:14am

We got one back - 14 months later! If we're friends you already probably saw story on FB. Here is the summary. http://chicago.stolenbike.org/node/191236

+1 to Nick S at Play it Again Sports, a vigilante (put his own lock on it) cycling friend (Ryan A) and Chicago Police Department  

Permalink Reply by Julie Aberman (Hochstadter) on August 22, 2012 at 10:19am
I want to hear the story!!!

Jeremy Treister said:

We got one back - 14 months later! If we're friends you already probably saw story on FB. Here is the summary. http://chicago.stolenbike.org/node/191236

+1 to Nick S at Play it Again Sports, a vigilante (put his own lock on it) cycling friend (Ryan A) and Chicago Police Department  

Permalink Reply by h' Zerocats on August 22, 2012 at 10:44am

http://chicago.stolenbike.org/node/191236

?

 

Julie Hochstadter said:

I want to hear the story!!!

Jeremy Treister said:

We got one back - 14 months later! If we're friends you already probably saw story on FB. Here is the summary. http://chicago.stolenbike.org/node/191236

+1 to Nick S at Play it Again Sports, a vigilante (put his own lock on it) cycling friend (Ryan A) and Chicago Police Department  

Permalink Reply by jon buckland on August 27, 2012 at 12:39pm

I did... Fingers crossed

Permalink Reply by Michelle S on September 17, 2012 at 4:20pm

So just now I saw a couple people obviously casing some bikes locked up at racks/signposts near my house, acting very nervous. They didn't make any moves to steal any one of them, though, and left. I got a picture of two of them, just in case any bikes go missing here in the next day or two. Besides keeping a lookout generally, any other duties I have in this situation as a citizen of the bicycling community?

Permalink Reply by Steven Vance on September 29, 2012 at 12:34pm

Hmm, go to a CAPS meeting. Aside from making this report, you could get a feel from the local beat officers on how much they care about bike theft. 

Michelle Stenzel said:

So just now I saw a couple people obviously casing some bikes locked up at racks/signposts near my house, acting very nervous. They didn't make any moves to steal any one of them, though, and left. I got a picture of two of them, just in case any bikes go missing here in the next day or two. Besides keeping a lookout generally, any other duties I have in this situation as a citizen of the bicycling community?

Permalink Reply by Steven Vance on September 29, 2012 at 12:39pm

A while ago I got the raw data from the Stolen Bike Registry (SBR) so I could figure out the most reported theft locations. When someone asked me last night if they should leave their bike overnight at the Metra Western (at Grand) train station – to which I replied, "absolutely not" – I realized I never published my analysis. 

Here it is. It lists all of the CTA and Metra stations at which bike thefts occurred that were reported to the SBR. The worst? Clybourn Metra station. 

Notice that there was only 1 reported theft at the Metra Western station in the dataset time period. This doesn't mean 1 theft happened there. It just means that at least 1 person whose bike was stolen knew about the Stolen Bike Registry. That's one shortcoming of the website: awareness. But it pales in comparison with the Chicago Police Department's data shortcomings: they can't filter their theft reports for "bicycle" thefts. 

Permalink Reply by h' Zerocats on September 29, 2012 at 12:49pm

I meant to respond to this, sorry.

Your concern and community-mindedness are great...but I think first and foremost is: don't risk your personal safety over potential property crime.  Thugs/bangers can go ballistic when they think they're being photographed, and not much use to the images unless you actually photograph someone in the act of stealing a bike.

Unfortunately there's not much you can do about a situation like this unless you're willing to put in the time yourself to monitor the spot... and even then a bike theft in progress is not going to be a high priority for police, so you may or may not get a response in time to stop the theft.

And as you may already realize, a 911 call about 'suspicious activity' is likely to result in an irate and condescending dispatcher who won't even put it through.


Michelle Stenzel said:

So just now I saw a couple people obviously casing some bikes locked up at racks/signposts near my house, acting very nervous. They didn't make any moves to steal any one of them, though, and left. I got a picture of two of them, just in case any bikes go missing here in the next day or two. Besides keeping a lookout generally, any other duties I have in this situation as a citizen of the bicycling community?

Permalink Reply by h' Zerocats on September 29, 2012 at 7:22pm

Thanks for compiling that, and sorry the CSBR has been such an ongoing disappointment to you.

FYI today's recovery story:

http://chicago.stolenbike.org/node/193531

Steven Vance said:

A while ago I got the raw data from the Stolen Bike Registry (SBR) so I could figure out the most reported theft locations. When someone asked me last night if they should leave their bike overnight at the Metra Western (at Grand) train station – to which I replied, "absolutely not" – I realized I never published my analysis. 

Here it is. It lists all of the CTA and Metra stations at which bike thefts occurred that were reported to the SBR. The worst? Clybourn Metra station. 

Notice that there was only 1 reported theft at the Metra Western station in the dataset time period. This doesn't mean 1 theft happened there. It just means that at least 1 person whose bike was stolen knew about the Stolen Bike Registry. That's one shortcoming of the website: awareness.

Permalink Reply by Michelle S on September 29, 2012 at 8:32pm

Thanks, Howard. Good news is that all of the bikes they were checking out were still around in the days afterward. They seemed pretty well locked up, not worth bothering with.

h' said:

I meant to respond to this, sorry.

Your concern and community-mindedness are great...but I think first and foremost is: don't risk your personal safety over potential property crime.  Thugs/bangers can go ballistic when they think they're being photographed, and not much use to the images unless you actually photograph someone in the act of stealing a bike.

Unfortunately there's not much you can do about a situation like this unless you're willing to put in the time yourself to monitor the spot... and even then a bike theft in progress is not going to be a high priority for police, so you may or may not get a response in time to stop the theft.

And as you may already realize, a 911 call about 'suspicious activity' is likely to result in an irate and condescending dispatcher who won't even put it through.


Michelle Stenzel said:

So just now I saw a couple people obviously casing some bikes locked up at racks/signposts near my house, acting very nervous. They didn't make any moves to steal any one of them, though, and left. I got a picture of two of them, just in case any bikes go missing here in the next day or two. Besides keeping a lookout generally, any other duties I have in this situation as a citizen of the bicycling community?

Permalink Reply by Steven Vance on September 30, 2012 at 9:13am

That's a fun story: "I throw my bike over a 10 ft fence [friend] catches it, throws it in his car. I jump the fence, rip my pants but get in the car successfully and ride off!"

h' said:

Thanks for compiling that, and sorry the CSBR has been such an ongoing disappointment to you.

FYI today's recovery story:

http://chicago.stolenbike.org/node/193531

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