One of my sons bought a Specialized 29" mountain bike so he could ride in charity events and for getting back and forth to the local train station where he then commutes off to work. With the add-ons he put on the bike and all said and done the bike ran a little over $900.
To protect his investment he bought a Kryptonite bike lock. The clerk at the bike store removed the lock from the package and tossed the package and paperwork out. Strike one.
He rode the bike back and forth to the train station, locked it up and never had any problems. He took the bike into NYC to do a charity ride as well ans had plans to do many more.
He was able to get a ride into town on November 7, 2013 and was brought to the train station to retrieve his beloved bike only to find that had been stolen. So much for the Krptonite lock. He couldn't find remnants of the lock either for the thief took that as well.
He went to the police station and filed a complaint. In my son's favor he registered the bike with the police and the bike shop has a record of the serial number as well.
The police told my son they know who stole it. But because they did not see the bastard do the crime they cannot touch him unless they find him on the bike. They also told him that this guy uses a small hydraulic cutter he keeps in a bag on his shoulder. The bastard sees a bike he wants, snips the lock in a matter of seconds and is off with the bike.
Since the police know who is doing this why don't they pay him a visit with a search warrant? Of course that takes too much effort and the police here would rather hand out traffic tickets than do any real police work.
And what about the MTA? Where are their security measures? Webcams are cheap enough today and there is no excuse in why one was never installed to help protect commuters bikes. If they did and looked at the video's I am sure that they would have the criminal in custody. It is too much to expect them to put a transit cop at each station like they did right after 9/11.
Then again I doubt they would even look at the tapes. My daughter's purse was stolen and the crook used her credit card to by train tickets from the machines and those record your images. The Nassau County Police never once contacted my daughter or reviewed the recordings from the MTA ticket machines.
I spoke to the bike shop the next day and learned that there has been a rash of bike thefts. Two alone on that Friday.
Six months ago there was another rash of thefts, but the police were able to capture the criminal. The criminal came from the town of New Cassle, an area where you do not stop your car for any reason what so ever. But this time the police are not taking any action to stop the thefts or recover the bikes.
Speaking with the bike shop it is very doubtful that the bike will ever be recovered. And with the fact that the clerk in the bike shop threw out the package and paperwork for the lock my son was not able to register the lock with Kryptonite which has an anti-theft guarantee. So much for that.
Now my son is heart broken over the loss of his beloved bike that he worked so hard to buy and the local police just do not care. I learned that there is a pissing match going on between the local police and the MTA on who's jurisdiction it is. But that does not help the fact that some bastard is using the train station as their private bike store.
At the end of the day, my son had to cough over another $900 for a new bike.
Ya gotta love NY...not.
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