07 Jul 2010

Fighting Crime, Capitol Hill Style

You may have heard anecdotal evidence that bike theft is up around these parts, coinciding with the onset of crazy-hot summer days and school being out for the summer. Many of our friends and neighbors (including  THIHer Sharee) have been victims of bike theft — taking place all over the Hill — in the past few weeks.  Most people write off their stolen bike as a lost cause. I’m here to tell you it may not be.

Lifelong Hill resident and CHAMPS executive director Julia Christian recently moved with her family to a new house over near C Street NE. The back yard has a very high — I’d guess 7 foot — fence around it. Last weekend, after noticing some hooligans loitering in their alley, she and her husband Chad discovered that their bikes (his and Julia’s mom’s) were stolen. This meant that the kids must’ve scaled the fence, then tossed the bikes back over the top in order to liberate them from their rightful place. She filed a police report and took to the listservs to tell the Hill to keep an eye out for their bikes. She immediately received a few messages that the perps had been spotted in the Eastern Market area, but despite Julia and Chad’s best efforts they were unable to track the bikes down.

A few days went by and Julia and I are scheduled to have a meeting at the CHAMPS office above Tunnicliff’s. Since it was noon-ish and a lovely day (during the brief respite from this nasty heat) we decided to go downstairs to Tunni’s patio to work over lunch. We were sitting there for 15 minutes when she said, “That’s my mom’s bike!” She followed them down the street to the temporary Market site, where they locked up their 4 bikes (with one lock; one bike had a lock on it, that they clearly didn’t know the combination to) before wandering across 7th street, over to the pool. As Julia was taking pictures of the kids and the bikes, I called 911 – neither of us approached the kids. The police arrived moments later, and went with Julia over to Rumsey to find the youths. (The pictures she’d taken helped identify them among the throngs of kids in the pool.)

After pulling the kids out of the pool and asking them about the bikes (“Where’d you get that bike?” “I don’t know. I found it.” “Where?” “Dumpster.” “Which dumpster?” etc.) it turned out that at least one of the kids lived around the block from Julia. The police asked if Julia could prove that it was her mom’s bike, since the bike wasn’t registered. (NOTE: please register your bikes! MPD acknowledged that day that the system doesn’t work as smoothly or effectively as it should, but if your bike is registered, it’s a big help in possibly recovering it.)  Luckily, she happened to have a picture of it in her backyard on her phone, and MPD was able to release the bike to her that day. MPD officers Marvin Williams and a female officer, whose name Julia can’t remember, deserve a special mention, as were both so very helpful in this process!

The kid who was riding Julia’s bike got a ride home with MPD; the others were let go. Unfortunately, they have not yet recovered Chad’s bike, but they’ve seen it a few times being ridden by a neighborhood teen. It’s a teal green beach cruiser type, so do let us know if you see it! (Julia’s email is at the end of this by-now-very-long post.)

This incident has inspired Julia and Chad to start a program for city kids, which they describe as similar to the Peter Bug Shoe Repair model. They recognize that it sucks to be in the city and not have the means to get around beyond your own two feet (which in this weather, is a pretty crappy mode of transportation) so they’re working on finding partners to start a program for kids that takes donated bikes, teaches the kids to fix them up (while paying the kids for the time they work), then lets them buy a bike that they fix for a nominal fee. This way, the kids learn a skill and get a bike (that they worked for). If you’d like to help Julia and Chad with their efforts, you can email Julia at CHAMPS@capitolhill.org.

So, the morals of the story are: lock up your bike no matter where you are and keep your eyes peeled. These bikes aren’t going out of our neighborhood, and they can be recovered!


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2 responses to “Fighting Crime, Capitol Hill Style”

  1. Oh how I dream of coming across my bike in such a fortuitous way. Especially now that I’m stuck on foot in the heat! You and Julia have given me a spark of hope … or at least an excuse to put off rummaging for a “new” old bike.

  2. dynaryder says:

    Glad you got your bike back. Now lock it up! Almost every case I’ve heard of bike theft has been a bike locked improperly(cable lock) or wasn’t locked because it was in a yard/on a porch/in a bike room. DC repealed bike registration about 3yrs ago. You can pay to have it registered at the National Bike Registry(http://www.nationalbikeregistry.com/),but MPD does not subscribe to it. Make sure you record your frame’s serial number(if you need help fiding it,it’s usually underneath the bottom bracket/where the pedals meet,if you can’t find it ask a bike shop for help) and keep a copy of the receipt. Pictures also help,but aren’t always legal proof(unless you have a pic of the serial number). For more locking info,go to http://www.mechbgon.com/lock/index.html and http://www.missinglink.org/Pages/bike_locking.html . You can also ask at bike shops or get literature from the Washington Area Bicyclist Assoc(http://www.waba.org/).

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