by: Chris Burkhardt
A couple of weeks ago I was sitting at a picnic table on campus by the economics building doing a bit of schoolwork. It was a typical nice warm fall day and the sun was shining without a cloud in the sky. I looked up from my studies and something caught my attention. I noticed a regular looking student with a backwards cap on inspecting every single bike on the bike rack across from where I was sitting. He gave a nice tug on each bike to see if they where nicely secured and was performing his inspection with efficiency. The student then proceeded to check the other three bike racks in the vicinity before walking due east down the main path. I sat there for a minute and contemplated on what just happened. Was that student just trying to steal a bike in broad daylight? Was that even a student? He didn’t have a backpack… About a minute or two went by and I decided that I should hop on my skateboard and go follow this guy. As soon as I stepped onto my skateboard a funny feeling came over me and I suddenly began to feel like inspector gadget. Weaving in and out of traffic I spotted my culprit at another bike rack. However, this time he had managed to find a loose one and took off with it heading east again. I trailed the perpetrator for a couple of minutes and I thought maybe he was going to go back to his house and that would lead me to the mother load of bikes that he has been stealing. Then my suspect stopped at the bike rack by the new Atlas building and parked his bike. I kept a good distance as he began to inspect every single bike on that bike rack thoroughly just as he had originally. All of a sudden the culprit was startled as if he had seen a ghost and ran into the Atlas building lost from my site. I then noticed that a police officer had just pulled up next to the bike rack. I decided that it was time to inform the proper authorities of what inspector gadget was up to. I told the cop that there was a suspicious kid checking for unlocked bikes at every bike station and I think he stole that one over there. I also told him that he just ran into the Atlas building. The police officer was very concerned and asked me what he looked like. I new he had a backwards cap on, but for some reason that’s all I could remember. I didn’t want to get the wrong guy in trouble so that’s all I said. I then realized that I had to go turn in a paper and left it into the police officers hands to catch my guy.
I returned to the scene of the crime about 10 minutes later after handing in my paper to find that the cop was gone and so was the bike. I’m not sure if the culprit was caught or not, but at least I tried to create my own governance.
This really annoyed me because I have had my bike stolen from campus before and I didn’t even leave it there unlocked. Someone had clipped my heavy-duty lock one day when I was studying in the library. Please always lock your bike and don’t ever leave it overnight.
20 comments:
I had a bike stolen about two years ago. Its sad that things like this happen, especially in Boulder. I believe that we do need some sort of regulation on campus for this, whether it be more campus police monitoring bike racks or a student group that personally monitors racks. Maybe you should bring this up with student government.
That's good that you had told the police officer of the suspicious low-life. In relation to your story, I would recommend that people lock their skis or snowboards up if going to Eldora. The parking lot just so happens to sit next to the ski racks. I have noticed numerous times people pulling their cars up and snatching skis off the racks. There are no cameras and the managers at Eldora always play dumb when confronted with stolen items (my skis were stolen last year).
I have had 2 bikes stolen since I moved to Boulder (both locked with U locks). One was stolen on campus, and one stolen from my old porch on the hill. After reporting the first theft to the campus police, I came to the conclusion that the police were not going to do anything about it and I should just take the loss. A good bike thief can pretty much steal any bike they want to, regardless of what kind of lock you have. I always thought it would be fun to set up bike theft sting operations-- and start catching these losers!!
Can you get arrested for stealing a bike if you're caught? It seems like there aren't any serious consequences that may change the actions of these thieves. What are the incentives for people not to steal unlocked bikes. Like you said, he was trying to steal them in broad daylight. A casual observer would have a hard time even noticing a suspicious action like that unless they were looking for it specifically. Don't we have campus police that monitor bikes and biking activity?
Nice work Chris! If everyone would surface once in a while from their cell phones and i-pods and take a look around them at what's going on, perhaps theft wouldn't be such a problem. So many students walk around campus completely oblivious of their surroundings. Also, many people would not have chosen to act on their observations even if they did notice something suspicious. Thanks for being a good citizen! Go-go Gadget Eyes! Open them people!
Where do bike thieves unload all their bikes on the market, there are not too many outlets to sell bikes without being noticed. Most likely the perpetrator is going to target expensive and somewhat unique bikes, which will be few and far between on craigslist and eBay. I guess if they are stealing bikes in the first place, maybe they don't really care too much about being caught? Anyways, interesting story none the less.
I noticed a guy eyeing a bike rack by the engineering center..he looked lost but was closley inspecting bikes, i though maybe he lost his, I thought it was werid but i locked my bike up anyway, hope it wasnt the same guy
The key is to get a crappy target bike. It costs you a hundred bucks so the cost of losing this bike is more the loss of time you will have to spend on finding another bike. It will probably break before it gets stolen, which may not happen. I do think though you did an honorable thing by following this guy, if more people could look after everyone i think bike thieves will decrease because they know more people are looking at them. Also, if one day you're feeling generous and give a hobo some money, dont, give them food or something you can control because after accumulating 20 bucks they can go get a lock cutter and that $20 turns into hundreds after selling the stolen bikes... just a thought.
I too have had a bike stolen. I really dont understand the person who goes around and makes a day of looking for unlocked bikes to steal them. If nothing else, karma will come back and bite you in the ass for something like this. It's simply not worth it to steal a bike and anyone who does is not a very good person. Also, good for you for doing something when 9 out of 10 people might not have done anything if they noticed at all.
I hate these kinds of stories because I'm a huge bike guy myself. So I find the most expensive bike to park mine next to in hopes they'll steal the $6000 S-works road bike next to mine, which sounds awful but it's not hard to find thousands of dollars worth of road bikes locked up outside of any CU building.
Awesome! I have never noticed anyone doing this, but I will keep my eye out from now on. The interesting thing about this is that it was in broad daylight. Not only would it be harder for a passerby to notice this, but it is also harder for the police to pick up on, as they are generally on the prowl for these kinds of people during the nighttime. My roommate went to pick up his bike after a concert earlier this summer (sometime around 1 AM), and he put it half in-and-out of the trunk of his car. Not living more than two blocks away from campus, he was pulling into the parking lot of our apartment building when he was pulled over by a police officer. They refused to believe that he owned the bike, due to the time of night and the fact that he was not riding it. Eventually, they gave in and let him go, promising to check the security cameras by the bike rack, and noting our address. I also feel that the police are... well... not... well, not smart, and often times ineffective. I will be dedicating some of my off time on campus to vigilante work from now on...
I don't ride a bike and had no idea it was so common for them to be stolen as so many of you have mentioned. It would probably be helpful if the university aimed some cameras at the racks and put signs up saying under surveillance. Even if they just used dummy cameras for show I bet they could scare off a good deal of these scumbags.
These bike culprits are messed up, bikes are stolen everyday at CU and I'm constantly concerned with where to park my bike and it's security. Someone told me that many of these criminals are so professional that they have CO2 power cutters to get through the strongest locks hidden in small backpacks. Also, most of the bikes are stolen during the day because no one suspects it.
I have never seen something like this on campus and i am surprised that someone would be this bold and try to steal a bike in broad daylight. NIce work following the suspect, it would have been nice if you could have stayed and identified the kid. I have not had a bike stolen, but i have had valuables stolen (wallet, phone, and video camera all on separate occations). I always wish that i could find the person and i would certainly appreciate a person like yourself taking the initiative and catching a person being so disrespectful.
I think it is funny that they hire more cops, but nothing changes. The cops are usually sitting in their cruisers somewhere, totally bored out of their skulls.
I think it is even more strange that the cop didn't wait to see who grabbed the bike. But then again, the cops are generally useless unless they are handing out DUI's or underage drinking tickets, or giving tickets for skateboarding on campus. Once again, their efforts are a bit misguided.
Had a locked bike stolen from pearl street when I was at work...
Go go gadget, next time you should scare the shot out of the kid, tell him you are currently calling the cops! (not that they will do anything...)
I find it appalling that this happened. Thank you for trying to be the vigilante justice system. I too have often wondered where these thieves pawn these bikes off too, and how they are not caught while doing that.
People who steal are the scum of the earth
ROBERT SEADER
That is awesome you followed that guy, what a low-life. I have always wanted to catch someone trying to steal something of mine, but have never been blessed with the confrontation. I have more than one friend who has had their bike stolen here on campus. Both were locked up, and one was even double locked with a cable and a U-lock (both were cut). I think that this could be an easy and moderate cheap fix for CU. Maybe they could install cameras watching all of the bike racks that have week long recordings. So, if your bike was stolen, you could report it and CU PD could take a look at who the perp was that decided they deserved some free wheels...
Even though I do not encourage this type of behavior at all, it is the own persons fault for not locking up their bike. I am sure there are people like this all over campus who try to bonus on an unlocked bike. I do think it is refreshing that there are people like you who will seek justice in an instance like this. I am curious to know how many bikes get stolen every semester, and I also wonder what police end up doing about this. Keep up the good work detective!
I think what you did was great, and like many on here agree that I wish more people would act up in ways like this. Is there any data out there regarding how many bikes a year are stolen at CU. As a freshman I didn't even bother taking a bike out here cause I thought it would be stolen. Isn't that sad...
I can't believe someone would be so bold to do that in broad daylight. I also can't believe that you were the only saw this. I guess I probably wouldn't notice it just wandering by, but still this is a little unnerving. I've never had a bike stolen or anything, but I've definitely heard my fair share of stories. Still, I can't think of a good solution to this that wouldn't involve "big brother type".
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