Seriously, this is not a joke even though it kind of feels like the setup to a joke. I was at Sticks and Stones this afternoon when an officer from the Rexburg PD stopped to talk to Joe. He asked Joe to communicate this warning to the local cycling community. Five bicycles have been stolen this week by an individual (seen on a security video wearing a black hoodie with a logo that looks like red mountains) who cherry picks high end bicycles from bike racks around the BYU-Idaho campus and uses a lock cutter to make away with the bikes.
The RPD asks bicycle owners to lock their bikes securely, be alert for any suspicious behavior, and to be very skeptical of anyone trying to sell potentially stolen bicycles. Just a couple of comments…I was in the back when Joe talked to the officer so I do not know specifics of when and where the bikes were stolen. I would think that bikes on campus in the day should be pretty safe, even with a less than robust lock, so I assume this is probably happening at apartment complexes at night. I suspect the bikes stolen were high end only relative to the other bikes on the rack. If you are a student who truly owns a high end bicycle, you know this already. Please do not lock it up outside. You should be sleeping next to that bicycle regardless of the bicycle policy of your apartment complex. If they are absolutely inflexible about that, find someplace else live.
I must point out that one man's Raleigh is another man's treasured Bianchi. Any stolen bike is someone's requisite ride, regardless of the street value.
ReplyDeleteI was at Bill's when the RPD came in as well. I spoke with the officers a little bit. At that time there were only 3 bikes that had been stolen. He said all 3 bikes were Giant Mountain bikes. All were stolen from apartments around campus. Of those 3, 2 were locked up with cable locks and the other wasn't locked up. Seems that all 3 bikes were relatively new.
ReplyDeleteWhat really upset me is that the officers said that lots of bikes are stolen at the end of each semester. These thieves steal bikes, and then take them home to sell in their home towns where no one is looking for them. I hope that as word gets out about this, RPD can start catching some of these punks. Definitely not cool.