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

Views: 27033

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by h' Zerocats on October 17, 2012 at 8:06pm

FYI I spoke to the victim a while ago and her husband's bike was the same model and stolen along with it, so it's possible the images got mixed up somewhere along the line.

Kevin C said:

The stolen bike is reported as a 57 and though the picture is a bit smooshed, that looks to be about right. The Shining Bike looks to be 60+.

And TD, no question Shining Bikes and Things is a sketchy business. But given the reports of other CL members regarding the condition of their bikes, they would have to be relying on thieves who exclusively steal bikes which are in disrepair. Seems like it would be almost a statistical impossibility.  

notoriousDUG said:

There is a very good chance that bike is not the same one; that is pretty much how they came.

TehDoak said:

http://chicago.craigslist.org/chc/bid/3315477059.html

http://chicago.stolenbike.org/node/193391

I've already contacted the owner.  Seriously though, this place really seems like 100% stolen bikes.  

Permalink Reply by Kevin C Dormant on October 17, 2012 at 8:38pm

That's certainly one possibility. The other possibility is that I was flat out wrong. But I still love stolen bike recoveries.

h' said:

FYI I spoke to the victim a while ago and her husband's bike was the same model and stolen along with it, so it's possible the images got mixed up somewhere along the line.

Kevin C said:

The stolen bike is reported as a 57 and though the picture is a bit smooshed, that looks to be about right. The Shining Bike looks to be 60+.

 


Permalink Reply by h' Zerocats on October 17, 2012 at 8:40pm

Don't shatter my image of you that way :-)

Kevin C said:

That's certainly one possibility. The other possibility is that I was flat out wrong.

Permalink Reply by Doug Haynes on October 17, 2012 at 11:09pm

I am glad to hear it was the same bike and I am glad to hear it was recovered.  That shop is a menace.

TehDoak said:

I got this email from the owner of that Jamis:

"Well, it was her and she is safely back home thanks to your eagle eye,
my husband, and a friend who went down with the bill of sale. You can
add this to the "definitely stolen" list if you have one. THANK YOU SO
MUCH!
I'll be letting the police know tomorrow."

Honestly, we may not be able to get the police involved, but I have a craigslist search setup matching their address.  I am hoping if we make them give up enough stolen bikes that they paid for, they might start checking the stolen bike registry.   

notoriousDUG said:

There is a very good chance that bike is not the same one; that is pretty much how they came.

TehDoak said:

http://chicago.craigslist.org/chc/bid/3315477059.html

http://chicago.stolenbike.org/node/193391

I've already contacted the owner.  Seriously though, this place really seems like 100% stolen bikes.  

Permalink Reply by Justin B Newman on October 18, 2012 at 8:23am

As a secondhand dealer, 5600 BIKES & FRAMES is required by law (4-264-050) to maintain records of all bicycles they purchase, and turn those records over to the police on a daily basis (4-264-051). In a few minutes, I'll have a FOIA request going into the City for a copy of these records. When I get the results, I'll update (and probably scrub against CSBR - and if there's anything pertinent to the two owners here, I'll reach out directly). If they're in electronic form, they'll be made available on the web. If there are no such reports, it's a fairly straight forward process to push for a license revocation. (The business does actually have a business license and a secondhand dealer license, both recently issued.)

Permalink Reply by h' Zerocats on October 18, 2012 at 8:30am

 

Thank you thank you thank you!Justin B Newman said:

As a secondhand dealer, 5600 BIKES & FRAMES is required by law (4-264-050) to maintain records of all bicycles they purchase, and turn those records over to the police on a daily basis (4-264-051). In a few minutes, I'll have a FOIA request going into the City for a copy of these records. When I get the results, I'll update (and probably scrub against CSBR - and if there's anything pertinent to the two owners here, I'll reach out directly). If they're in electronic form, they'll be made available on the web. If there are no such reports, it's a fairly straight forward process to push for a license revocation. (The business does actually have a business license and a secondhand dealer license, both recently issued.)

Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on October 18, 2012 at 9:00am

Outstanding!  I'll second Howard's THANK YOU!

Justin B Newman said:

As a secondhand dealer, 5600 BIKES & FRAMES is required by law (4-264-050) to maintain records of all bicycles they purchase, and turn those records over to the police on a daily basis (4-264-051). In a few minutes, I'll have a FOIA request going into the City for a copy of these records. When I get the results, I'll update (and probably scrub against CSBR - and if there's anything pertinent to the two owners here, I'll reach out directly). If they're in electronic form, they'll be made available on the web. If there are no such reports, it's a fairly straight forward process to push for a license revocation. (The business does actually have a business license and a secondhand dealer license, both recently issued.)

Permalink Reply by Justin B Newman on October 18, 2012 at 9:05am

Great news! Back in May, the City Council did something useful. They required all pawn shops and secondhand dealers to submit their reports via LeadsOnline, effective October 16. This means an electronic registry of every bicycle taken in by a *legally operating* pawn shop / secondhand store. (Compliance is a different conversation - at least there's a mechanism here...)

There's not currently any way for you, the random citizen, to get access to it (and while they have a property registry, it apparently isn't designed to auto-match against incoming reports - useless)but if nothing else, the way FOIA is written, the City probably will have to search LeadsOnline to respond to FOIA requests ... which will be lots better than dealing with a pile of paper. (And there are ways we could make it very easy for someone whose bike has been stolen to submit a FOIA request for this data). That said, I'll start reaching out and seeing if there's any way someone (including CSBR) could get "better" access to this data.

Happy Thursday!

Permalink Reply by TehDoak on October 18, 2012 at 9:24am

This is the best news I've heard all week.  

Justin B Newman said:

Great news! Back in May, the City Council did something useful. They required all pawn shops and secondhand dealers to submit their reports via LeadsOnline, effective October 16. This means an electronic registry of every bicycle taken in by a *legally operating* pawn shop / secondhand store. (Compliance is a different conversation - at least there's a mechanism here...)

There's not currently any way for you, the random citizen, to get access to it (and while they have a property registry, it apparently isn't designed to auto-match against incoming reports - useless)but if nothing else, the way FOIA is written, the City probably will have to search LeadsOnline to respond to FOIA requests ... which will be lots better than dealing with a pile of paper. (And there are ways we could make it very easy for someone whose bike has been stolen to submit a FOIA request for this data). That said, I'll start reaching out and seeing if there's any way someone (including CSBR) could get "better" access to this data.

Happy Thursday!

1s20gdv3auw5hPermalink Reply by 1s20gdv3auw5h on October 19, 2012 at 7:28pm

My bike was stolen and the police pretty much didn't care and brushed me off as Oh Well.

Frustrating.

Permalink Reply by Justin B Newman on October 29, 2012 at 1:07pm

I have received a response from the City related to this. Specifically, they have no reports. http://files.foiadata.org/FOIA-Response-CPD-2012-10-18.pdf

This suggests that while 5600 BIKES & FRAMES may have a license, they may not be complying with the below-listed ordinance. Complaints to the Ward 40 Alderman and the Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection (BACP) (via 311) may be appropriate.


Justin B Newman said:

As a secondhand dealer, 5600 BIKES & FRAMES is required by law (4-264-050) to maintain records of all bicycles they purchase, and turn those records over to the police on a daily basis (4-264-051). In a few minutes, I'll have a FOIA request going into the City for a copy of these records. When I get the results, I'll update (and probably scrub against CSBR - and if there's anything pertinent to the two owners here, I'll reach out directly). If they're in electronic form, they'll be made available on the web. If there are no such reports, it's a fairly straight forward process to push for a license revocation. (The business does actually have a business license and a secondhand dealer license, both recently issued.)

Permalink Reply by Doug Haynes on October 29, 2012 at 1:28pm

Interesting.

I actually visited the shop and spoke with the owner at length regarding the whole situation a week or so ago and just have not gotten around to documenting the whole thing.

Long and short of it is this:

  • He claims to be reporting all his purchases to the city; looks like that may not be accurate.
  • His defense of the whole situation is that he is a 'small business' and 'does not have time' to check every bike that comes in.
  • When I asked how that was supporting the cycling community and how he could call himself a 'community bike shop' when he is helping to facilitate bike theft was met with no response.
  • He offered to make the lists he sends to the city available to anyone who would like to ask for them to check them against the internet.
  • He also claimed that the Jamis that was recovered was in terrible disrepair and he had to 'rebuild' the bottom bracket which is interesting because they come with cartridge bearing bottom brackets...



Justin B Newman said:

I have received a response from the City related to this. Specifically, they have no reports. http://files.foiadata.org/FOIA-Response-CPD-2012-10-18.pdf

This suggests that while 5600 BIKES & FRAMES may have a license, they may not be complying with the below-listed ordinance. Complaints to the Ward 40 Alderman and the Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection (BACP) (via 311) may be appropriate.


Justin B Newman said:

As a secondhand dealer, 5600 BIKES & FRAMES is required by law (4-264-050) to maintain records of all bicycles they purchase, and turn those records over to the police on a daily basis (4-264-051). In a few minutes, I'll have a FOIA request going into the City for a copy of these records. When I get the results, I'll update (and probably scrub against CSBR - and if there's anything pertinent to the two owners here, I'll reach out directly). If they're in electronic form, they'll be made available on the web. If there are no such reports, it's a fairly straight forward process to push for a license revocation. (The business does actually have a business license and a secondhand dealer license, both recently issued.)

RSS

Groups

© 2008-2016   The Chainlink Community, L.L.C.   Powered by

Disclaimer  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service