As of Nov. 9 of this yr, there have been 2,431 police stories of a stolen bicycle or e-bike in Seattle. My Big Fastroad E+ Professional was amongst them.
Which obtained me pondering: Who steals these bikes? The place do they go? Are they bought on-line, or transported out of city?
Private loss apart, the rampant nature of motorcycle theft has coverage ramifications.
In October — the month my bike was ripped off — Seattle opened a $72 million street enchancment alongside East Marginal Approach that included main bike upgrades. Though the Seattle Division of Transportation mentioned it couldn’t escape the particular prices for designated bike lanes and stoplights, one has to imagine it was a serious funding and a part of the 172 miles of bicycle amenities within the metropolis.
Seattle needs very badly to be a bike-friendly metropolis. But when folks can’t hold their transportation safe with locks and different precautions, the smoothest, most secure lanes on this planet gained’t be sufficient to steer sizable numbers of commuters to pedal to work or anyplace else.
Let me let you know my story, one among hundreds.
In Might of 2020, I had a neurological episode and was recognized with a kind of epilepsy. After presenting the completely-out-of-the-blue information, my neurologist added yet one more factor: I used to be legally prohibited from driving a automotive for six months. Beginning instantly.
That led to the panicked buy of a pedal-assist electrical bike. Value: $3,500, plus lock and taxes, pushing it larger nonetheless.
I had biked for many years, commuting to work at a number of stops alongside my profession. However this e-bike was one thing else. With saddlebags for notebooks and a laptop computer, it may get me anyplace with out breaking a sweat.
It was stolen in the midst of a sunny day alongside the Seattle waterfront, the place I had secured it to a rack within the new park. Somebody lower via the lock with a round noticed.
Contemplating the price of the bike, this was a felony. So I referred to as the King County Prosecutor’s Workplace to ask how they file prices on bike theft.
Police sometimes got here throughout stolen bikes, however often whereas investigating stolen vehicles or RVs, mentioned Susan Harrison, head of the financial crimes unit within the prosecuting lawyer’s workplace.
Prosecuting bike theft offered lots of challenges. Possession of stolen property was tough to show as a result of the federal government must present that the individual with the bike knew it was stolen. Trafficking stolen property was a bit of simpler if the individual was promoting the bike for an absurdly low value or couldn’t reply primary questions on it.
Backside line: Bike theft is a simple crime to commit and hard to convey to justice.
“Bikes are a highly regarded goal as a result of they’re so moveable. And there’s no anti-theft machine that you just’re not capable of defeat. It’s simple to get away pretty rapidly,” mentioned Harrison.
In her expertise, there was no organized bike ring at work within the Seattle space.
“I’ve not seen that degree of sophistication,” she mentioned. “More often than not, they’re getting used regionally. And it might be that they’re traded for medication or bought far under their worth.”
Upon listening to that my bike was stolen on the waterfront, Harrison guessed that it was probably someplace south of downtown. She instructed me I ought to take a look at the RVs and tent encampments in Sodo.
Like nearly each different crime, Seattle bike theft jumped considerably throughout the pandemic.
There have been 1,590 stories of stolen bikes in 2019, and a pair of,899 a yr later. Since then, the numbers have gone up and down, however at all times above 2,000 yearly. It’s usually accepted that the overwhelming majority of thefts go unreported.
Apart from shopping for a powerful lock (two U-locks are really useful for cities), bike people advise doing one thing I used to be beforehand unaware of: Registering the serial quantity with Bike Index, a San Francisco-based nonprofit bike registry that companions with Seattle police, the College of Washington and plenty of native bike retailers.
By registering the bike, cops and others who might come throughout it might probably examine its possession standing.
There are additionally a bunch of native social media websites to put up images and descriptions of stolen bikes. Many volunteers hold a watch out on-line. And there are success tales of the Seattle Police Division coming throughout bikes and monitoring down the reputable house owners.
However the stats usually are not heartening.
Within the week my e-bike was stolen, Bike Index listed 33 others taken in Seattle. Three bikes have been marked as discovered throughout this era.
And as I found, Bike Index is thought to thieves as properly.
I checked out the Sodo encampments. Among the many tattered tents, decrepit RVs and human distress, there have been many, many bikes. Trek, Specialised, Rad Energy Bikes. Electrical cargo bikes.
A couple of days later, I walked the realm with Andrea Suarez of We Heart Seattle, a neighborhood nonprofit that picks up encampment litter and presents sources to these on the road.
Suarez warmly greeted a man she knew from earlier interactions. He was hanging round a tent, a $3,000 Aventon e-bike resting within the mud. Let’s name him “Purple.”
Purple was a drug consumer. He lived in a tiny house village and saved a few of his stuff in Sodo. And he stole bikes.
Very first thing he does is register the serial quantity with Bike Index.
“In the event you purchase a $5,000 bike and don’t register it and somebody steals it, all somebody has to do is register it on Bike Index and there’s nothing you are able to do about it. It’s their bike,” he mentioned.
(This isn’t true, particularly if the true proprietor has a receipt with serial quantity).
If Purple discovers a motorbike is already registered, he mentioned he’ll “give it to any person for like $10 and have or not it’s their drawback.”
If Purple registers a motorbike in his title, he’ll trip it for some time and finally promote or commerce it.
Some stolen bikes and bike components are posted on web marketplaces akin to Fb, OfferUp and Craigslist. However that comes with undesirable dangers.
“There are cops throughout that. They run stings on a regular basis,” he mentioned. “They’ll act like they’re a purchaser. And even some house owners shall be on there they usually’ll meet you with a bunch of cops and also you’re f—ed.”
So what do folks like him do with stolen bikes, I requested.
“Trip it, promote it. It’s a unending f—ing circle,” mentioned Purple. “All people’s bike that has been stolen in Seattle is someplace within the Better Seattle space, being tossed round.”
Within the scope of life, what’s a stolen bike? Based on Seattle police statistics, there have been 5,282 stories of motorcar theft this yr, as of Dec. 3.
Cops are stretched too skinny. Property crimes at all times fall to the bottom precedence.
However nonetheless. There appears to be one thing very unsuitable with a metropolis that pours tens of millions of {dollars} into biking infrastructure however the place combating bike theft isn’t a lot of a precedence.
“Increase the bike community to satisfy the wants of everybody, regardless of their age or skill,” reads one objective of the Seattle Transportation Plan.
Possibly add one other: “Guarantee police and others in regulation enforcement have the sources and technique to scale back bicycle theft, reply successfully when it happens, and maintain accountable these accountable.”
As a result of right here’s the factor: The resale marketplace for stolen bikes could also be on folks’s radar, however they’re nonetheless being taken, flooding the underground economic system. One after the opposite, after the opposite.
In the long run, I went to a store and purchased a used e-bike to get to work. This time, I put a transponder on it so I may monitor the bike if it was stolen. On the road, I hold my eyes peeled for my outdated trip, and typically I believe I see it in passing, like a ghost or somebody taking part in a trick on me.
