Posted on 09/29/2020 10:33:35 AM PDT by real saxophonist
Cyclists searching for stolen bikes in Denver's homeless camps
Cyclists turn to social media to find bikes
By: Jaclyn Allen
Sep 28, 2020
DENVER -- A homeless camp or a bicycle chop shop? In Denver, they can certainly at least appear to be one and the same. So many bikes have been stolen across the city, some people -- encouraged on social media -- are now going from camp to camp looking for their property.
"I would rather have my car stolen than this," said Carter Haun, pointing to his custom mountain bike. "It would be easier to get another car."
Less than three weeks after Haun moved into his downtown Denver apartment, his bicycle was stolen from his car, and he was determined to find it.
"I've been working on it (his bike) for a decade," he said. "I wasn't going to just give it up without a fight."
He started with a post on a Facebook group called "Denver Stolen Bikes," where more and more people are posting maps and photos of homeless encampments they call "chop shops."
"There's a whole group of people who just kind of go around and look for bikes to help find them," said Haun, who said someone spotted his bike after he started searching every camp listed on the map.
After days of looking, he finally saw a man pushing his bike near the camp at 13th Avenue and Logan Street.
"I walked up to him and said, 'Hey, are you selling bikes?' He said, 'Yeah, I’m selling bikes.' And I said, 'I want to buy that one,' and pointed at mine," Haun said.
Contact Denver7 learned his story is not unique. Leah Bilquist posted photos after she found her bike at the camp near Morey Middle School.
"I think attention needs to be drawn to the homeless situation and how awful it is becoming to live in Downtown Denver," she said.
Other cyclists post videos of thieves in the act, hoping someone will recognize the person cutting their bike locks.
Denver7 went to see first hand the piles of parts and high-end rides in camps all over the city.
Denver Police say it is a complicated situation.
"When our officers have gone into these camps, they see bikes. They see bike parts, but it's really hard to determine did these come from a stolen bike or not," said Jay Casilas, who said many people don't have their bike's serial numbers or photos.
Advocates for people experiencing homelessness say the community is being unfairly blamed. The camp bikes and parts may not be stolen. People in the camps my not have stolen them.
"It's possible their bikes got stolen and abandoned at the camps," said Benjamin Dunning, an organizer with Denver Homeless Outloud. "I think it's a good idea for people to lock up their bikes securely."
Bicycle Colorado's Jack Todd agrees that strong locks and serial numbers are important, but so is support from the City of Denver. New bike corrals, he said, are a step in the right direction.
"We are always asking the city to do more, but they have taken great steps in the last year to improve bike parking," said Todd.
Meanwhile, Haun said he had to pay $160 to get his bike back from the man pushing it.
"I wish there was some way I didn't have to pay to get my own bike back," he said. "People said I shouldn't have done that, but I wanted to keep things calm."
While DPD said they don't recommend searching homeless camps because of safety concerns, a growing numbers of bike owners posting on social media say it's the only way to get property back.
"Don't give up. Go look for it," said Haun. "I know they're not all criminals. Some of them are nice, but it just sucks when people steal things from you."
Stop complaining, snowflake, you are driving a $40k Subaru and you care about a homeless person riding your bike?
Do these people actually ride the bikes or just cruise around in their cars with the bikes on a roof rack? I suspect the latter.
Not very progressive of them, I bet most have cars also so having your bicycle borrowed long term by one of the cities precious homeless should be a Badge of Honor they would be Proud to wear.
Who’s bike. Our bike.
I'm sure the people whose businesses were burned and looted by the BLM/Antifa crowd felt the same way and they weren't even given the option to buy their way out.
Isn’t possession of stolen property still a crime?
I don’t like cyclists.
I don’t like bums on the street.
I’m torn on this one.
Nothing is a crime in Denver any more.
"Give me $10 and the bike as a gift and I won't beat your ass..."
Here in southern Arizona last year, bicycles disappeared from yards, as soon as the immigrant caravans arrived.
"I would rather have my car stolen than this," said Carter Haun, pointing to his custom mountain bike. "It would be easier to get another car."I had to buy two handlebars and a seat to get the sizing just right.
This is what you get when you mollycoddle bums and thieves.
I dont think i would have that problem. A .45 in the face generally changes peoples attitude.
And legalize pot
Take a cheap bike,
Saw the frame into chunks, and insert balsa wood dowels in the frame to “re-conect” them back together.
Lock it using super cheap bike lock ( put small tag saying “display Purposes only” )
Setup a trail camera nearby.
Have fun watching the moron try to ride it away after stealing it
“Meanwhile, Haun said he had to pay $160 to get his bike back from the man pushing it.”
“I wish there was some way I didn’t have to pay to get my own bike back,” he said. “People said I shouldn’t have done that, but I wanted to keep things calm.”
Whatta snowflake. His fellow bike riders can thank him for demonstrating that bike theft is very profitable and trouble-free.
Denver Police haven't given a crap about property crimes for decades.
Except for one time, years ago. Some poor sap unwittingly broke into the Chief's house. DPD basically stopped work to throw every resource into finding him and the Chief's property.
“While DPD said they don’t recommend searching homeless camps because of safety concerns, a growing numbers of bike owners posting on social media say it’s the only way to get property back.”
Maybe the “defund the police” idea isn’t that bad of an idea after all. They can’t actually do anything, mostly because they aren’t allowed to do anything...so why employ them? They could all be replaced with interviewers and clerks for crime victims.
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