I love when I wake up to emails like this:
“Jonathan,
Wanted to let you know I recovered the bike yesterday.
I can’t be sure, but it looks like the response posted on BikePortland.org had a lot to do with the bikes current “owner” contacting me to arrange a return. It was a pretty sketchy dealing, with cops involved and stuff, but my baby’s back home again.
So thanks again for keeping this website running. It’s a great public service.”
That brings the number of stolen bikes we’ve helped recover to about six in the last three and a half months! Thanks readers for your vigilance and please keep abreast of the listings and alert the police if you see anything suspicious out there.
So far 58 people have signed up for my weekly Stolen Bike Digest. The list includes almost every bike shop in Portland as well as interested citizens. Anyone can sign up for the emails and I encourage shops and other businesses to print out the email and display it in a conspicuous place.
Also, here’s an update on the bike theft prevention work I’m doing with the City of Portland and the Portland Police Bureau. We are very close to finalizing the content of a new information card. This card currently has safety and legal info but will now be expanded to include bike theft prevention and recovery info. The card will be designed and printed by the city and we are working with shops to get them to staple it to all bikes on the floor and to pass it out with receipts if possible.
The Police will also use the bike theft content we’ve created for a new page on their website. This page will encourage people to list their stolen bikes on BikePortland.org.
Also, I have at least three volunteer computer programmers who want to help me create a more sophisticated listing form so I can start capturing more data such as lock types, location of theft, and Police Bureau incident numbers.
Stay tuned for more developments!