August 4-10, 2005

city beat

LOCKDOWN: Michael McGettigan suggests bikers run a U-lock through the seat stays and back wheel, and drop a cable over the U-lock. Photo By: Manuel Dominguez Jr

Crime Cycle

Can a new bike registration program protect your wheels?

by Jenna Portnoy

Ever since Michael McGettigan was a 10-year-old boy trying to convince a teenage bully not to steal his ride, he has been obsessed with bike security.

He rattles off a litany of mistakes his brethren make when leaving their bikes unattended. He chides them for being careless and implores them to lock their bikes properly. McGettigan knows that for an avid cyclist, losing one's wheels can range from a major bummer to an identity crisis because recovering the environmentally friendly mode of transportation is iffy at best.

Still, he encourages riders to invest in a solid bicycle — not a BSO, or "bike-shaped object." "That's like saying you'll only dress in rags so you don't get mugged," he says. "Riding a bike means the possibility of loss. Embrace the risk. Better to have biked and lost. …"

In hopes of improving the odds of recovering bikes, Police Lt. Gerard McShea, who bikes to and from the South Street District most days, decided to start a five-county bicycle registry database. While the police legal department looks at the feasibility of the proposed program, McShea has collected about 250 forms with the help of the Bicycle Club of Philadelphia. Registration booths will be set up at the Scenic Schuylkill Century ride on Sept. 11 and the MS 150 City to Shore Bike Tour on Sept. 24 and 25.

Photo By: Manuel Dominguez Jr

Over the Christmas holiday last year McShea saw four kids, two riding on the handlebars of their friends' bikes, cruise down Lombard, stop near the police mini-station by the Whole Foods at 10th and South streets, and work on unlocking bikes. McShea nabbed the 14- and 15-year-old boys, who confessed they also pinched bikes from Tasker and Broad streets. McShea couldn't return the bikes because the owners never filed a police report so they sat in the police evidence closet. That's not unusual. He estimates only about 30 percent of all stolen bikes are reported.

McGettigan, a former City Paper staff writer, is evangelical about the need for people to let police in on their own personal tragedy. McGettigan's shop, Trophy Bikes in the 3100 block of Walnut Street, keeps a "hot list" of about 100 bikes a year, including police report numbers. That way, if the retailers spot a stolen bike they can make a case for the rightful owner. Without a police report number, the shop is powerless to reclaim a bike they suspect belongs to someone else. "You must report it," McGettigan says. "If you don't know what it's worth, it's worth $500. If you don't know the serial number, make one up. The police live and die by numbers. And they will tell you, "There's no theft without proof of ownership.'"

Of course, the last thing cops want cyclists to do is invent serial numbers. The success of the registry relies on the accuracy of information in the database. If the police recover a bike, they can enter the number into their computer, retrieve information about the rightful owner and ultimately reunite bike and owner.

John Boyle, advocacy coordinator for the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia, says getting bikes back "generally depends on time and place." The police happened to be nearby three weeks ago when an 18-year-old lifted his Fuji Kyoto — a 40-pound silver model that came his way compliments of the manufacturer but that he guesses would sell for $500 to $700 — from behind a locked chain-link fence at his Northeast home. A neighbor who happened to witness the theft called the police, who caught the thief within 15 minutes.

Andy Dyson, executive director of Neighborhood Bike Works, likes the registry idea, but says some people won't participate. "I think it's possible that some people will see it as sort of a Big Brother thing and they just won't do it," he says. "But others will, especially if they've had a few bikes ripped off."

Boyle and other bike enthusiasts would like to see cycling prioritized in the United States the way it in some European countries, such as the Netherlands. There, police attach GPS systems to bicycles, bait thieves and run sting operations to dismantle elaborate theft and resale schemes, Boyle says.

McGettigan isn't convinced that the registry is anything more than a "Band-Aid."

"If I had a list of 10 things to do to keep your bike, registration is number 10," he says. Cyclists should write their first initials and last names on the bike frame, lock their bikes in places where there's a lot of activity, avoid locking bikes to trees and record their bikes' serial numbers in a phone book or another safe place so they'll have it in case of theft.

McGettigan has recorded numbers and identifying information for his Gunnar light touring bike, 1937 Raleigh three-speed, Brompton folder, Surly cylco-cross and Raleigh Super Course. And his 1947 Raleigh?

"Damn," he says, gripping a tuft of white hair. "I gotta get around to that."

To register a bike, call the police mini-station at 215-922-6706 or download a form from homepage.mac.com/kalicki.