bike thieves

Bike Thieves Are Stealing Mailmen's Keys to Get Into Buildings

— By Kevin Montgomery (@kevinmonty) |

Bike thieves have long been breaking into people's garages or plucking bikes from the streets, but now it appears they're exploiting a way to get into building lobbies directly.  As one Uptown Almanac reader writes, a thief recently used a crowbar to break into their mailman's key box to gain access to his building off of of 18th Street, by the Women's Building:

A thief at 4:45am Monday morning tried breaking into my building's garage, failed, but then proceeded to break into the building's key box and used the keys to get into the hallway lobby. The thief quickly grabbed my red Mission Bicycle fixie that I had lazily stopped locking indoors.

We asked Officer Matthew Friedman, the man behind SFPD's Anti Bike Theft Twitter account, if this is a common issue and what can be done about it:

Unfortunately, this is not uncommon.  I saw this happen a few times when I worked in the Mission District.  The SFPD has worked with the US postal police to investigate this type of crime.  In the past we have also been able to help expedite with changing the locks (this should be done ASAP regardless), better securing the mailbox key, or even changing how the mailman gains access to the building (including the location of delivery).

Also consider not locking up or leaving anything in the lobby of a building.  Thieves scout out apartment buildings where they can access a security door steal property (bikes) then get out quickly.  In some cases I have discovered it is easier to gain access to a secured building lobby then a garage door.

Friedman also recommends working with San Francisco SAFE, which offers security assessments on apartment buildings and give “advice on how to overcome security issues.”

SF Fire Dept. Now Using Jaws of Life to Reclaim Bikes From Bike Thieves

— By Kevin Montgomery (@kevinmonty) |

Pop's describes the situation that forced the San Francisco Fire Department to come out to the 24th Street bar and free a bike:

A bike thief will lock up your bike with his own lock, then come back later and cut your lock off. Here SFFD used the jaws of life to cut off the thief's lock. Make sure you have some way to prove your bike is yours!

Great, now we have this to worry about?

[Photo by Clint Woods]

As Bike Theft Increases 70% Since 2006, Supervisors Look For Ways to Curb Trend

— By Kevin Montgomery (@kevinmonty) |

Unclaimed stolen bicycles recovered by SFPD.  SFPD holds onto the bikes for 120 days, before selling them at auction or donating them to charity.

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors has finally figured out something that we've all long known: bike theft is a serious problem in the city.  It's such an epidemic that a report issued by the Board of Supervisors Budget & Legislative Analyst revealed that the value of the city's stolen bikes topped $4.63m for the year of 2012, and the theft rate in the Mission's legislative district increased 348% since 2010.

In fact, bike thefts outpace iPhone thefts 3:1, despite—as the SF Bike Coalition points out—iPhone theft “has gotten widespread media and police attention, while bike theft has not.”  (To be fair, iPhones help us do disruptively helpful things like fling cartoon birds at cartoon pigs and summon cabs, whereas bikes are only useful for fun and transportation.  Also, iPhone owners relentlessly complain about everything (battery life, AT&T, font choices, BART laborers, Tartine's lines, the Giants' 2013 season), so the police quite understandably don't want to be the other side of that tsunami of tears.  But I digress…)

The report states that many of the usual factors are fueling the trend: insufficient secure bike parking, people not knowing how to properly lock their bikes, owners not being able to identify their stolen bike for police recovery.  But more concerning is the lack of SFPD enforcement, confirming that bike theft is a relatively “risk-free crime” in SF:

There is no central SFPD approach to bicycle theft. While individual SFPD stations devote staff and resources to investigating bicycle theft as well as attempting to reconnect recovered bicycles with their owners, other stations devote little to no time investigating such cases. This is largely due to competing priorities and insufficient staffing levels. SFPD staff report that bicycle theft is typically a lower priority when other, more serious crimes are on the rise.

But instead of merely recognizing the problem, the Board of Supervisor's are looking to do something about it.  Supervisor Eric Mar, who initially called for the report and has been the victim of bike theft himself, added a $75,000 line item to this year's city budget to create a voluntary bike registration database, making it easier for SFPD to track stolen bicycles and reunite recovered bikes with their owners.  Additionally, the report calls for SFPD to create a dedicated bike theft unit, increase enforcement in bike theft hot spots, increase the number of undercover “bike-bating” sting operations to catch thieves, and create an online database of stolen bikes so buyers can determine if they are purchasing stolen goods.

You can read the entire 25 page report here.

Previously on Uptown Almanac: 

Bicycle Chop Shop Pops-Up Outside of SOMA StrEAT Food Park

— By Kevin Montgomery (@kevinmonty) |

6th and Market has been long known as the place to (hopefully) recover your stolen bike.  But from the looks of it, our city's transient population of afflicted gutter punks has wised up and moved their operation to the more tony neighborhood of Folsom and Division.  SF Citizen uncovered the operation:

They keep their inventory in the four giant tents you can see on this particular block of Division

And their vans, always with the vans.

In fact, these guys are just like the A-Team. You’ve got Mad Dog Murdock on the left there, building away, and there’s B. A. Baracus there on the right with his reverse Mohawk. And Hannibal and Faceman are out cruising in the van looking for more bikes.

Sadly, given SFPD's and the DA's notoriously unfortunate attitude towards arresting and prosecuting bike thieves, we can only imagine this scheme will be met with the very same brand of mob justice that eventually took down Bobby the Bike Thief.

[SF Citizen]

Previously on Uptown Almanac: 

Report: Bike Theft is a "Risk-Free Crime" in San Francisco

— By Kevin Montgomery (@kevinmonty) |

A few weeks ago, Priceonomics issued a report on bike theft that's worth a look:

It seems as if stealing bikes shouldn’t be a lucrative form of criminal activity. Used bikes aren’t particularly liquid or in demand compared to other things one could steal (phones, electronics, drugs). And yet, bikes continue to get stolen so they must be generating sufficient income for thieves. What happens to these stolen bikes and how to they get turned into criminal income?

It turns out using simple economic cost-benefit analysis mumbo-jumbo, stealing bikes is a very rational crime for someone to partake in if they want quick cash without risking prison—even if they have to sell the bikes for 5-to-10 cents on the dollar:

Criminal activity (especially crime with a clear economic incentive like theft) could therefore be modeled like any financial decision on a risk reward curve. If you are going to take big criminal risk, you need to expect a large financial reward. Crimes that generate more reward than the probability weighted cost of getting caught create expected value for the criminal. Criminals try to find “free lunches” where they can generate revenue with little risk. The government should respond by increasing the penalty for that activity so that the market equilibrates and there is an “optimal” amount of crime.

Using this risk-return framework for crime, it begins to be clear why there is so much bike theft. For all practical purposes, stealing a bike is risk-free crime.  It turns out there is a near zero chance you will be caught stealing a bike (see here) and if you are, the consequences are minimal. 

There are a few great accounts of journalists getting their bikes stolen and then going on a zealous mission to try to capture bikes thieves (see here and here). In each account, they ultimately learn from local police that the penalty for stealing a bike is generally nothing.

According to Sgt. Joe McKolsky, SFPD's bike theft specialist, most thefts are performed by amateurish drug addicts looking for a quick score, “Bikes are one of the four commodities of the street — cash, drugs, sex, and bikes… You can virtually exchange one for another.“  However, more skilled thieves that cut through ulocks to get at thousand dollar bikes and likely shuttle their score down to LA, knowing full well that trying to sell them locally risks getting caught.

Read the full report over at Priceonomics.

Previously on Uptown Almanac: 

Neighborhood Bike Theft (Finally) on the Decline

— By Kevin Montgomery (@kevinmonty) |

According to Mission Station and the Examiner:

Theft reports have been down in the Mission since the launch of a crackdown, Mission Station police Capt. Robert Moser said on the station's website Friday.

“In January we had 50 bicycles reported stolen in the Mission,” Moser said. “In February it was 44.  As of March 22, we have had 19 reported stolen.” [Link]

[Photo by Bhautik Joshi | h/t SFist]

Previously on Uptown Almanac: 

Talk to the Cops About Bike Theft

— By Kevin Montgomery (@kevinmonty) |

I'm guessing the majority of the readers of this blog would rather drag their naked bodies down a Mission Street sidewalk than talk to the cops about anything, but for the few of you that wouldn't mind, this community meeting to discuss bike theft in the Mission could be really valuable!  Or not.  I haven't been to the meeting yet.

That's right, on March 29th at 6:30pm in the Mission Station Community Room, SFPD will hold a meeting “to promote an open discussion between bicycle advocates, community members and the San Francisco Police Department on how to better respond to bike theft, current practices and how to better protect your bicycle.”  Yes, they want to hear your thoughts on their response to bike theft.

For those of you not already fast asleep on your keyboard, let me just say that it's nice to see SFPD stepping up their game in this department.  Sure, their current practices of fuck-it-let's-put-this-stupid-motherfucker-into-a-coma and creating a recovered bike database are great and all, but it's not helping anyone I know get their bikes/wheels/saddles/handlebars/spokecards back.  Perhaps something good will come of this?

Previously on Uptown Almanac: 

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