Bogotá's Bike Cemetery

Going, going, gone forever. Bicyces wait for their owner who never comes.

When the police sieze bicycles, either because the bike is allegedly stolen of a cyclist's infraction, the police store them in huge lots, until in theory the owner appears  or pays his or her traffic fine.

However, many of bicycle owners never do appear, and the bikes lie rusting away for years. For legalistic reasons - and undoubtedly authorities' apathy - giving the bicycles away is difficult. So, the bicycles accumulate by the many hundreds and thousands, slowly becoming worthless.

The other day, while pedaling to Parque La Florida to see a bike polo match, we passed one of these bicycle cemeteries, on Ave. Mutis, near Engativa. I stopped to snap some pictures, but when the security guards saw me they ordered me to stop. God forbid, after all, that anybody should learn about this problem. Then, someone might find a good use for the abandoned bikes, such as donating them to orphanages or poor communities, and the guards would lose their jobs.

A mural by MAL crew in Bogotá's Santa Fe neighborhood,
behind the Central Cemetery, portrays the bicycle cemetery.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogota Bike Tours

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

What are the Bicycle Cops Good For?

Bogotá's bicycle cops are back, after several years' absence. But one has to wonder why.

Bike cops frisking someone near Independence Park.

Bike cops have lots of advantage: they can move fast, to chase down bad guys, range over wide parts of the city, and quickly reach places like alleys and narrow streets where, driving or on foot, they might not be able to get to at all.

But Bogotá's bike cops don't actually seem to exploit these advantages. I see them roaming just a few central Bogotá streets, usually eating, chatting amongst themselves, or tirelessly pursuing bad guys in their smartphones. About the only arguably useful law enforcement I've seen them do is clearing poor street vendors off of the sidewalks - a task done equally well on foot.

But why pick on the cycling cops? Whether on foot, in cars or in helicopters, they don't seem motivated to do much except search young people for drugs, in the hopes of squeezing out a bribe.

Bike cops pedaling down
Ave. Septima.

I wish I weren't so cynical. But a few months ago, foreigner who lives here and has a nearby business was walking along in the evening when a drunk kid stabbed him several times in the back. He almost dies from the blood loss, spent mmore than a month in the hospital, lost a part of a kidney and is still slowly recovering. Do you think the police care? More than two months later, they still haven't interviewed the witness and told the victim's son to track down the relevant videos.

A few weeks before that attack, a Colombian acquaintance got stabbed in the hand during a mugging attempt. Since he filed the initial report, the police have done no follow-up to try to, say, identify the assailant.

How many more people have these guys since stabbed and robbed, because the cops just don't care?

This afternoon, with this on my mind, I passed a group of a half-dozen bike cops doing their usual thing, enjoying coffee on a side street. When I stopped to take photos, they detained and frisked me and made me erase the pictures 'because they were a security threat.' Or, perhaps they were embarrased?

'Move on', 'move on.' Bike cops clearing out street vendors.

In front of the San Francisco Church, in La Candelaria.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogota Bike Tours

Maybe if We Were Motorists....

Where's the cop when you need him?

This afternoon, Bogotá City Councilman Roberto Saenz had organized a meeting of bicyclists with a police official to look for solutions for the problem of bicycle theft.

The police official had confirmed three times, Saenz said. Saenz had even changed the date of the meeting to meet the policeman's schedule.

Several dozen of us waited for an hour and a half - the officer didn't show up.

Perhaps he was busy looking for a stolen car. Or pursuing a car thief. Or just out driving his car.

Perhaps if we'd been motorists instead of just cyclists, the police official would have been sure to show up.

Blog by Mike Ceaser, of Bogota Bike Tours

The Cops Are Back on Bikes

On the beat. Young cops pedaling in Chapinero.

About six years ago, Bogotá had cops on bicycles. Bicycling cops are a good thing for several reasons: They're versatile and can go places cops in cars and even on motorcycles can't, and much faster than on foot. Cycling police are also more approachable for the community. (And don't get me started on those expensive, useless, Segways.) And the bikes are inexpensive and make those cops exercise. Finally, you can't sleep the afternoon away on a bicycle the way you can in a car.

Most importantly for us cyclists, having cops on bikes has got to motivate internal combustion vehicles to give two wheelers more respect and room on the street.

Not so fast. An afternoon conference
near the Banco de la Republica.

Yet, for reasons I can't divine, around 2009 the police scrapped their bikes (some of which were purchased by Bogotá Bike Tours).

Recently, however, two-wheeled Bogotá police have reappeared. (At least, the teenage 'auxiliar' police, anyway, who are getting their 'obligatory' military service requirement out of the way.)

On Ave. Septima, where the bike cops seem to spend most of their time...despite the surfeit of security here.

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