DC Bike Bait program update

The Washington Post's Rend Smith writes about the MPD's bike bait program and unlocked bikes.

Though District cyclists might think a dude like Martin, naive enough to leave his bike unprotected while he runs an errand, got what he deserved, Sgt. Christopher Micciche of the D.C. Police Department’s Crime Reduction Team doesn’t see it that way: “If you leave your car unlocked while you pump your gas, you probably do not want someone coming along and stealing your laptop out the passenger side door. And if you run into 7-11, it would be nice if you didn’t have to worry about someone coming along and riding off on your bike.”

That's an excellent point. Leaving your bike unlocked is ill-advised, but it doesn't mean you deserve to have your bike stolen.

That’s one of the reasons he and the CRT plant bait bikes on D.C. streets. Almost every person who stole a bike “could not understand the concept of not taking property that didn’t belong to them,” Micciche says. “If a bike is unlocked,” he says, “how’s that stealing? It can’t be stealing–you just found a bike.”

Oh man, just try pulling that line on my Grandma; she'd have you wishing the cops would arrest you.

Last summer, some people thought the DC Bike Bait program was entrapment, and even I felt uncomfortable with it. But Sgt. Micciche has me seeing it otherwise. I mean, even the Dutch don't see it that way. When I was a kid, you could leave your bike everywhere unlocked - even in the front yard for days - maybe that's not possible, but a person should be able to leave it in their front yard, behind a gate, for a couple of minutes.

The stings have produced 13 arrests so far, and have yielded some odd moments: Micciche remembers how two bike thieves were warned by officers to not take the bike, but then moments later “did so anyway” and how another “waited until his Metro bus arrived, then hustled over and grabbed the bike, placing it into the bus bike rack and boarding the bus.”

Good for MPD. This is a serious crime, and there's a broken windows element to this.

Update: On the same subject, DCist has a link to the MPD's recovered property display.

both trash and treasure will be put on display at the Armory for personal inspection Monday through Wednesday of next week. Police say that claimants will need to present proof of ownership to take home their stuff, though the report suggests that the bar may be set low for more common objects. You might at least get a look at the goods before they go on to auction earlier in 2009.

As you can imagine there are a few bikes (and a ton of power tools).

Photo by RodBegbie

Comments

[Katherine]

that sign breaks my heart! (my bike is green, my nickname is Kitty, and until this fall it was all I had!) ... my bike was stolen out of my front yard (a joyride I guess, it was later recovered) when I was a kid.

it's nice to see a nicer attitude to thefts for once. :)

[stew]

my main problem with using unlocked bikes for the bike baiting project is that while it WILL catch people, the kind of people it will catch are opportunists, who the police should know are in limitless supply. but the real plague of the city's cyclists--which this type of operation WONT catch--are the premeditated bike thieves--the ones who scout bike racks and come along with bolt-cutters and are ostensibly plugged into some kind of fencing system. catch those guys, and we might actually see a drop in bike thefts citywide.

keep up the good work, this blog is a great resource!

[Jack]

Awesome stings. It definitely is a quality of life issue. Maybe I could get a "bait bike" decal for my bike.

To address stew's concerns about not catching serious bike thieves, the police could use $3000 bait bikes with cable locks. Heck, some thieves might just steal the components.

[zt]

My Specialized Sequoia (54.5) was stolen last year in Mt. Pleasant. I reported it, serial number and all. What are the chances it is in some MPD property room and they haven't contacted me?

[washcycle]

I'm not sure how the MPD handle this. I know I was once told by an officer that bikes reported stolen are recorded in one notebook and bikes reported recovered in another and that officers are suppose to cross reference these (this was in 2002, but even then it seemed too low-tech). So if they have your bike you might not ever get contacted.