Swap-O-Rama-- Saturday June 12 2010

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Moc Artsy on June 6, 2010 at 9:02am

Howard and everyone following:
While there is obvious value to having one large group assembled, consider that once you have been identified by vendors as people seeking to recover stolen bikes, these vendors are not likely to forget you. I had an ongoing little feud with one vendor whom I had confronted, and whenever I showed up after the confrontation, he would pack things back into his van once he spotted me in the crowd. This is one of the reason why I haven't shown up for any group outings to the Swap, preferring to keep my undercover status, as it were, so I can show up there without arousing suspicion. So if we move toward seriously organizing our efforts, I think it would be to our advantage to have individuals serve as spotters and work as surreptitiously as possible. I can do this, but I can't make it there every day the Swap is open and I don't have a web-enabled phone.

Permalink Reply by Chuck a Muck on June 6, 2010 at 9:18am

A few suggestions...
1. We need Command and Control. This would be some one with a lap top set up at the Macdonalds. We could send them picts of suspected bikes from our phones. They check the Registry and tell us if we got a hit. They could also contact the owners.
2. We need to spread out and not walk around as a group. I would suggest we roam in pairs
3. When we do get a hit and have got a hold of the owner, Do Not leave the bike!
4.Change up the way you look. Wear shades, hats that sort of thing. Also, we should try not to look like hipster bikers, leave the message bag at home...

Permalink Reply by Doug Haynes on June 6, 2010 at 10:39am

I pretty much have the same thoughts.

Chuck a Muck said:

A few suggestions...
1. We need Command and Control. This would be some one with a lap top set up at the Macdonalds. We could send them picts of suspected bikes from our phones. They check the Registry and tell us if we got a hit. They could also contact the owners.
2. We need to spread out and not walk around as a group. I would suggest we roam in pairs
3. When we do get a hit and have got a hold of the owner, Do Not leave the bike!
4.Change up the way you look. Wear shades, hats that sort of thing. Also, we should try not to look like hipster bikers, leave the message bag at home...

Permalink Reply by Dr. Doom on June 6, 2010 at 11:12am

The thing about going in pairs is that we want groups large enough to make recovering an absolutely positively identified bike easier. Thinking through what went down yesterday, I probably should have just straddled the Felt and told the guy that the owner and police were on the way and that if he wanted to tell the fuzz that I'd just stolen his bike he was welcome to. This would have been easier if we'd had one more guy with us for backup. More broadly I think we really need to work out what to do with an IDed bike. We know the Swap-o-Rama rent-a-cops aren't going to be of any help unless we have the physical paperwork for the bike, so I'd suggest the thing to do is just grab hold of it and tell the vendor that we welcome them calling the cops, but there are any number of problems with that.

I'm in for Saturday, by the way. And more generally I think the couple of trips I've been on have been good learning experiences and worth doing in large groups—if we can refine some procedures I think we can start hitting other flea markets and swap meets and putting some real pressure on.

Permalink Reply by Kevin C Dormant on June 6, 2010 at 2:41pm

I agree, I agree, I agree, and I agree.

On May 8th and June 5th, there were a dozen or so people selling bikes and both times, it was pretty obvious to everyone which two or three vendors were most probably selling stolen bikes. After yesterday, it also became pretty obvious which area of the Swap-O-Rama they occupy. I don’t think it’s an accident that Felt/Bianchi Boy does not purchase a vendors license and sets up his wares with “friends” in the back who are next to or very close to an open gate to the parking lot. Command and control at the McDonalds is a real breakthrough. Staffing with one or two laptops and two or three cell phones would be great.

A little more gender/racial diversity in the task force demographic would make us all look a little less obvious.

Identify probable/possible stolen bikes in twos. Assemble elsewhere and when we have a match, and it comes time to reclaim the bike, we descend on it with a group of four or five people to minimize the chances of a physical altercation. We tell the vendor we’ve called the owner and the police and we’re not going anywhere until the police arrive. It’s still just property folks, and I for one have no interest in getting hit with a pipe wrench trying to reclaim a $5000 bike that its owner locked up with a combination cable lock. No one “deserves” to have his or her bike stolen, but some are less deserving of extraordinary efforts by altruistic strangers to reclaim their property.

I think the Chicago Stolen Bike Registry in its current form serves many useful purposes, not the least of which is as a database of where, how and what kinds of bikes are being stolen. Would it be useful to create a searchable sub-category or “hot list” of bikes which have a serial number, police report number, and owner’s telephone number attached to them? These are probably all requirements for a successful (lawful) reclamation. As a courtesy, we can call or email someone on the Registry or CL who doesn’t have a police report or serial number to let them know their bike may have been spotted, but as a practical matter, the task force probably shouldn’t waste its time with those.

The police Dr. Doom spoke to yesterday were helpful. The police I spoke to last month were helpful. I have every confidence that they will be willing to help if we give them the tools they need to do their job. I have no delusions that we’re going to stamp out bike theft in Chicago or even that we’re going to get any of these vendors arrested. But if we could reclaim one or two stolen bikes every time we went out there, that would be pretty sweet. And if we drive them out of the Ashland Swap-O-Rama, we’ll see them in Alsip.

I’ll be there Saturday the 12th.

Permalink Reply by Moc Artsy on June 6, 2010 at 3:01pm

Well-reasoned ideas, everyone. As far as diversifying the group, it would be of obvious help to have some Spanish-speakers in the group as well. The police security have also been helpful to me in the past, and I think they should be considered a resource instead of an obstacle. It might not be a bad idea, in fact, to run some of these ideas past them once we actually do define a protocol. To tell the truth, I'm not sure how they would feel about any of us u-locking a bike or trying to take it back by force. The command/control at McDonald's is brilliant. Assuming they host free wi-fi, we could have a nifty little unit in there doing quick turn-around on the web and calling owners. The task force is slowly taking shape as a kind of bike-recovery A-Team, which is pretty much what's needed to be successful. What was it? One brainy sophisticate, one muscle bound rage machine, one unpredictable psychotic. Sounds like we have more than one of each!

Permalink Reply by h' Zerocats on June 6, 2010 at 3:11pm

You know, I often watch the way people (mis)use e-communication and think "this was supposed to be the information age-- I want my money back!"

This discussion is a great example of the potential technology has to make us smarter . . . keep it coming!

@ Kevin-- I'm going to start a new thread here as sort of a notepad of useful revisions we'd like to see to the registry. Paul Suda is the tech wiz behind it but only gets time to work on it in short burst fairly infrequently, so it would be nice to have all the needs in one place.

Permalink Reply by Rogelio Zamudio Jr. on June 6, 2010 at 7:01pm

Hi,

I recently lost my bike to thieves and will probably be attending this coming Saturday. Unfortunately I am ill prepared in regards to info on my own bike. No serial, no recent photos, and no receipts. Although I do have mechanics at a bike shop that would recognize my bike. It was taken on Tuesday and expect that its lost to me now.

But I am a Spanish speaker and would like to help this effort. Especially if it means that there will be fewer thefts.

Permalink Reply by Joel on June 6, 2010 at 7:38pm

Instead of going and just guessing what looks stolen, I would suggest people look over the registry (maybe each person takes 2 or 3 brands) to get an idea of what they are looking for. It is easier to find something when you know what to look for. Mission control could still confirm.

Permalink Reply by Laura on June 6, 2010 at 10:23pm

As far as arrival times go, the first week I arrived at 7am and the second week around 8:30. I think 8 would be a great time to get there, but I know those riding there have gotten there a little later- if riders were to attempt to get there any earlier I think we would loose people who are interested because its too early on a sat.

I think this past sat when we all sat at McDonalds we came up with some great ideas on how to attack this which are all very similar to Chuck’s 1-4 post. Once the bike is identified and the owner is talked too, then we should arrive in a larger group to retrieve the bike-It also might be a good idea when the whole group is there, and the thief knows he is caught, to check out the serial number, just to double check. We also need to make sure that everyone has each others cell phone numbers and have a meeting time for McDonalds to regroup.
Also maybe we should we break up the market into sections and give everyone a section, so we are not all looking at the same bikes and calling back to those with computers reporting the same bikes to them more than once??

I also think it’s important that we decide what our main concern is- are we trying to recover bikes, identify thieves, or scare them off? I know last week it became obvious to some of the sellers that we were all together, and comments were made to some of the venders about what they were doing. I am unsure if some of us will be recognized by the venders again this coming week and if so what we should do about that.

Rogelio-
I had a similar problem with my stolen bicycle- very little documentation that the bike was mine, so I made sure that the stolen bike registry had every detail I knew about my bike listed in it and then I brought a copy with me. I figure this shows that prior to seeing the bike I knew many things about it. I however did not find my bike.

Joel-
I attempted this the first time, there are just too many bikes stolen, and I am sure that some of the thieves keep an inventory and wait a few months to sell them, while others sell them right away. My list got so long and complicated (brand, model, colors, markings) that it was difficult to remember and keep straight the bikes on my list. It’s much easier to have a list of 25 bikes we found at the S-o-R then a list of 500-1000 bikes that are on the registry. I think that after last week we have figured out a great system, with using a lap top at McDonalds and calling in what is found.

Oh and yes I am in for saturday again!

Permalink Reply by igz on June 8, 2010 at 9:07am

Im in.

i wish i could train winston into a bike sniffing dog!

Permalink Reply by h' Zerocats on June 8, 2010 at 12:50pm

Will go through and summarize for Saturday later in the week.

A suggestion from a well respected bike advocate in regard specifically to Swap-O-Rama-- attend a Mayor's Bicycle Advisory Council meeting and bring it to the city's attention.

Thoughts?

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