What's it Take to Go To Jail?

'Judge sends home gang which stole more than 200 bicycles." (El Tiempo)

Police have arrested a criminal gang who allegedly stole hundreds of bicycles.

On their way back home?
Alleged bike thieves and their take. 

Bike theft is an epidemic here, altho a chronic one. But that's not all: Recently, cyclists have been murdered during bike thefts.

But 13 of the 15 alleged thieves won't go to jail, but instead received home detention. Home detention
is often a joke here, either because the arrestees relax comfortably at home or even remove the bracelets, put them on a housepet, and go out to party or commit more crimes.

Advocates of home detention point out, reasonably, that prisons are overcrowded and that prisoners often learn to be worse criminals, rather than be rehabilitated.

But, for a group which allegedly stole hundreds of bikes, which they might have sold for the equivalent of hundreds of thousands of dollars, does home detention serve as any deterrent at all?

And the punishment seems out of line in a nation turning harsher and harsher against drug crimes - which many people call 'victimless crimes.'

In contrast, stealing the transport and recreation from hundreds of people seems like a crime deserving serious punishment.

By Mike Ceaser of Bogota Bike Tours

Rallying Against Cyclist Killings

Diego Garcia, left, calls for an end to murders like the one which cost him his son, who shared his name.

A crowd of protesting cyclists
on Plaza Bolivar.

Last October, Diego Alexander García, 33, was riding his bike home in the early morning in Bosa, when a group of men attacked and robbed him. Garcia resisted and was fatally stabbed in the neck, and two passersby who tried to defend him were stabbed as well.

The thieves escaped with the bicycle and Garcia became one of dozens of Bogotá bicyclists killed each year, either thru accidents or by criminals.

Hundreds of angry cyclists rallied on Plaza Bolivar Sunday morning to draw attention to the deaths and to call for stiffer penalties for theft, since suspects are often released almost immediately, as well as special police units for battling bicycle theft and a national bicycle registry.

'No more robberies.'

Those are good ideas, as a start. However, the registry idea has been tried before, and to be effective requires the participation of a large percentage of owners of high-end bikes, at least, as well as the authorities' taking it seriously. And knowing the corruption and ineffectiveness of Colombian authorities (after our neighbor, a New Zealander, was stabbed almost to death not long ago, the police didn't even bother to interview the crime's witness or review the street's videos) I don't have much faith in law enforcement.

'I join the change.'

More effective might be taking away the incentive to steal bikes by cracking down on the stolen bike market, although this will be difficult to do without complicating the sale of legitimate used bikes. One method would be with sting operations: Have a guy show up at a shady shop offering a used bike lacking proper papers, and maybe with a locked chain wrapped around its seat tube. If the shop buys the bike, they get shut for two weeks, fined and their bicycle inventory gets confisticated. Or, set up a shady bike shop and see who shows up trying to hawk bikes of dubious origin. Yet another method would be to equip nice bikes with GPS tracers, let them get stolen, and then follow them to where the thieves store their merchandise.

A colorful character.

But will Colombian police use innovative methods to protect cyclists, most of whom are low-income people? I'm not holding my breath. At today's demonstration I didn't see a single police representative, except for those standing around with shields to ensure that cyclist protesters didn't storm Congress or the Supreme Court.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

Who'll Stop the Bike Thieves?

Pedaling against bike theft.

This group of Bogotá cyclists rode across town the other day calling for action against bike theft - but I didn't hear any concrete ideas to combat the problem.

Like many big cities, bikes get stolen all the time in Bogotá. I once left a bike locked up on a main plaza, went to a meeting and returned a half hour later to find it gone. When I complained to the police station two blocks away, the cops were only interested in praising the local thieves' abilities. "Thieves here will steal a hole out of the ground," one informed me.

Stolen? Bikes outside a central Bogotá pawn shop.

Teams of thieves also work La Ciclovia, spotting valuable bikes and using tricks or threats to separate them from their owners. "Can I try your bike out," says a friendly young man in cycling gear, with his own nice bike. And he does, and that's the last you see of yours.

A trick like that happened to an Australian friend of mine, who was riding home on his fancy new bike. A three-man team of thieves jumped him and left him bike-less. Insurance replaced that bike, but a month later he stopped when a fellow cyclist asked for help with a mechanical problem. The Australian put down his bike to assist - only to have it nabbed by a waiting thief, while the guy with the supposedly damaged bike rode off as well. Now, he's riding the bus.

There is one effective common sense measure - disguise an expensive bike as a cheap one. It'll pedal just as well, but won't attract criminal eyes.

One kid who worked with Bogotá Bike Tours was delivering a bike on La Ciclovia when another rider blocked him while a second pulled him off of his (our) bicycle. The bike - the best one we had - disappeared down a side street.

Those bikes, I suspect, quickly end up in Medellin or some other city where nobody's likely to recognize them.

Good ideas to control theft do exist, but the police here don't use them. Professional bands of thieves steal a lot of the bikes, so catching just a few of them could really reduce the problem. Why not try sting operations, with vulnerable-appearing riders on nice bikes equipped with hidden GPS devices. Trace the bike to wherever they hide or fence it, and recover a bunch of bikes and catch the band of thieves.

But police have told me they just don't or can't do sting operations.

Instead, the police have carried out what amounts to pointless harassment, by stopping cyclists on

Fighting crime or cyclists? Police take away racing bicycles
because the riders weren't carrying proof of ownership.
(Photo: Juan Carlos Zabala Humanez)

training rides and demanding they prove ownership of their bikes - and confisticating the bikes if they lack property papers. How many people carry around their bicycles' papers? And, bicycle property cards are widely faked.

"Oh, Colombia, where will end up with these injustices by those in power?" asks Juan Carlos Zabala Humanez, who posted this photo of police confisticating a bike during a training ride.

Finally, everybody knows where many stolen bikes end up - in the pawn shops, called compraventas, and a few other places offering nice bikes at absurdly low prices. A few years ago, one of our bikes got stolen from the doorway of Bogotá Bike Tours. I rode down Calle 13 and spotted it, still outside the shop where the thief had sold it. With lots of anger and threats of calling the cops, we obliged the shopowner to give back the bike. "I guess that's why the fellow wanted to sell it so fast," observed another man standing in the shop's door.

The best - and only - good idea I've seen recently is the Biciregistro web page, where you can list your stolen bike and used bicycle shoppers can check to see whether a bike is clean. But it will require participation.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

Bicycle Theft on La Ciclovía - Redux!

Why would a thief carry off a bike instead of riding it? Why would a bike thief wear a mask? But the photo's dramatic!

It's a real problem. Today, one of Bogotá Bike Tours' bikes got stolen, from a client. She had gotten off of the bike on Seventh Ave. and 64th St., during La Ciclovia, when some guys dressed in cycling clothing approached her and invited her on rides up a road outside of Bogotá. Suddenly, one of them pulled out a knife, another hopped on the bicycle, and that was it.

I'll point out that this wasn't just any old bike, but a shiny new aluminum frame bike. The best way to not have this happen to you is to ride an old, or old-looking bike.

It's happened many times before, to us and to others. Few items are easier to make off with than a bicycle, or easier to sell. I suspect that they'll repaint ours or send it to Medellin or elsewhere to fence. And, the best place to steal a bike is on La Ciclovia, where all you have to do is sit back and wait until a vulnerable-looking person passes by on a nice bike.

Obviously, in a city of eight million people, the police can't be everywhere. And, in any case, every time I visit a police station to place a denuncia - which I've done more than once - the cops complain that their hands are tied by Colombian law, and that using 'bait bikes' would mean illegal entrapment.

These thieves are not kids who spot an opportunity, but organized rings which prey regularly on cyclists. So, catching them would mean recovering lots of bikes and preventing many future thefts. 

Anti-theft advice consists mostly of locking your bike securely, with one or even two U-locks.

But this advice isn't worth much against Bogotá thieves, who aren't shy about taking the bike from its rider - whether by deceit, threat or physical strength.

On La Ciclovia: Your bike could be next!

In a previous incident, the thieves also worked in a team. One blocked the cyclist's path along La Ciclovía, forcing him to stop. Then his buddy pulled the rider off of the bike and hopped on himself. In a moment, they were gone. I've heard of other cases in which the thieves simply befriend the victim and then ask to try out their bike. You can image what happens next.

The one thing which can stop these thefts is public action. If the many people nearby would only respond by yelling at the thieves, grabbing the stolen bike's rear wheel, blocking the thief's path - any of many things which meant almost no risk to themselves - the thief might very well have gotten caught, and might even seek a different line of work.

My advice: Carry a lock, be aware of who's around you. And, most of all, don't be vain. Ride an older bike or make your new bike look older and worn! 

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

Bike Stolen!

Today, a kid who helps out Bogotá Bike Tours was riding up Seventh Ave. delivering a bicycle to a hotel in North Bogotá when another cyclist blocked his path. When the kid braked, another guy pulled him to the ground and jumped onto his bike and rode off.

Thus, Bogotá Bike Tours lost the best bike we had, and an almost unique one. So, look out for a large blue bike with 'Diamond' written on its lower tube.

Bicycles are very stealeable, since they're small, portable, easy to hide and hard to trace. Most anti-theft advice involves buying a better lock. But if thieves are willing to pull you right off of your bike, it's hard to imagine how to stop them. Unless....

In this case, the kid said the Ciclovia was quite busy when he got mugged, at about 10:30 a.m. Lots of folks were around, and many even stopped riding to watch the crime. But nobody did anything. If only a few of the other cyclists had blocked the thief with their own bikes or grabbed his shirt, he probably would have leaped off of the bike and hotfooted away. After all, from my experience it doesn't take much to dissuade thieves, who are usually cowardly types going after easy money. If criminals were into challenging themselves, they'd get jobs and work.

But nobody did anything - even though their own bicycle could be next.

Bystander apathy is terribly common in Bogotá. A few months ago, a friend and his girlfriend got mugged by several kids with knives. A bunch of guys doing roadwork just a couple of yards away saw the crime, but did nothing. Perhaps they were afraid of getting mugged themselves on their way home from work. Or, maybe, like the local security guard who, I was told, was threatened the other day by a pair of professional muggers on a motorbike, who told him: 'You interfered with our mugging someone the other day. Do that again, and we're going to get you!'

As long as the general, law-abiding, public remains passive and afraid, criminals will continue stealing almost  worry-free.

But it doesn't take much. A few months ago I witnessed three kids mug a young couple. Perhaps I should have charged them swinging a board or something. Instead, after some hesitation, I just screamed at them to stop. Amazingly, the muggers did, and ran off. Other people in the street had apparently also seen the incident, but did nothing.

When we filed the police report about today's stolen bike, however, the officer made a good point about our own apathy. Once before, a bicycle got stolen from in front of our shop. Two of us went down to the shops notorious for buying and selling used, obviously stolen, bikes at absurdly low prices. There we found the guy standing with his hand on my just-bought bike. By threatening him with the police, we forced the guy to return the bike.

But we didn't file any police report, leaving the shop free to continue fencing other people's stolen bicycles.

I also asked him why, then, they didn't do something about the city's grave problem of sewer lid thievery. All they'd have to do would be hire some homeless person to visit scrap buyers with a lid, and see which ones bought it. Unlike bicycles, nobody has their own sewer lids, so the buyer and seller are by definition thieves. No, he said, that would be 'inducing someone to commit a crime,' and a sharp lawyer would free his client on such a defense.

I've heard this before. Can it really be true that Colombia doesn't allow such a fundamental police strategy as a sting operation?



By Mike Ceaser, of Bogota Bike Tours