Bike Theft Gangs Using 'Sucker Poles' to Steal Bikes Across the City (DNA Info)

Yesterday's article with mentions to Bike Index, Stolen Bike Registry, The Bike Lane and The Chainlink...

Kudos especially to Kevin C and Howard and others for all their hard work fighting thefts.

Bike Theft Gangs Using 'Sucker Poles' to Steal Bikes Across the City

By Paul Biasco on November 11, 2013 8:10am | Updated on November 11, 2013 8:10am

@Paul_Biasco

Stolen Bikes

LINCOLN PARK — On a sunny Wednesday morning as moms, kids and workers walked along Halsted Street, a bike thief worked in plain sight.

It was as easy as lifting a tow zone sign right out of its base, slipping the U-lock off the metal pole and riding off with the lock still attached to the frame of the bike.

Couldn't have been more than 10 seconds.

"He had the pole in his hand when I saw him, and he had it up in the air," said Kathy McInerney, a 24-year-old Lincoln Park resident. "He threw it back down into the [base], and he just hopped right on [the bike and went] down Lill." Read the rest here.