ran into tommy by the safeway
he was waiting to meet someone
tommy gets a kick out of me and my camera
we shoot the shit as I snap a few shots
it took less than a glance to notice that tommy had down graded his ride
had seen him around town on a celeste green bianchi
it turns out that the police confiscated his bike due to its absence of registration
mandatory bike registration is bullshit
several years ago I had a bike stolen
it all happened very fast
was not in the building for ten minutes
when I exited my bike was gone
the bike rack had been disassembled
the bolts were removed
the bars were pulled apart
not by force
the removal of a few nuts and bolts freed my bike which had the U-lock only locking the frame
in a word
or four
I HAD BEEN SUCKERED
or five
I HAD BEEN SET UP
no desire to tell the full story
but the police were useless
they were not interested
they had no desire to lend assistance
having registration is only helpful for two reasons
to keep the police from taking your bike
or
if you happen to recover your bike along with the thief, you can then located a police officer and have them run a check on the registration
so...
you need to locate the bicycle and locate the theif and gather up a police officer
come on...
the police are not going to respond
and well
why would the thief go along with things
a friend of mine found his girlfriend's bike on craig's list
to his credit
and to the credit of the dc police things went sort of okay
the time was set for the purchase of what sounded like a very custom frankenbike
not just unique but old of a certain level of quality
there was some sentimental value as well
I was alerted to the meeting
not knowing if the police were going to show I did a pedal by on my way home from work
sure enough the police were questioning the man with the bike
my friend was staying anonymous and off to the side
I watched from the background
not sure if I can recall the final outcome
I think that there may have been a pawn shop reciept
but that is all pretty bogus
as possession of stolen goods
or
the purchase on the pawn broker's part is also illegal
someone should take the fall
my guess is my friend had to pay the amount on the pawn reciept
which in itself could have been bogus
the police taking tommy's bike is bogus
hopefully tommy can get a reciept from the man he bought the bike from
that promisary note will be enough to free the bicycle
or so I hope
man that would suck for "the man" to roll up and take my bike
do they take someone's car if they are not registered?
WABA: Washington Area Bicycle Association gives the skinny on how to fight the Mandatory Bike Registration