nd2010

I was walking around Philadelphia at 6 in the morning yesterday when someone approaches me on a bike and says "50 dollars". I ask what he wants, then he says "Bike, 50 dollars". It was a Trek mountain bike, so it had to be worth more than $50. I first thought, I could buy a beater for cheap. My next thought was that it's probably just stolen. I dial 911 on my phone and leave it on without talking to the dispatcher. I'm hoping that the cops would be able to track my location and I could stall him until they arrive.
So I told him I want to buy it but I needed to go to the ATM. Then I pretend to call 411 on my phone and ask for the nearest ATM, making sure to articulate my location (I'm still connected to 911). After a few minutes, I saw the wonderful red and blue lights of a police car rapidly approaching. The bike rider tried to escape but can't. I ran towards where the person was caught and tell the cop what happened. It turns out he had a warrant for his arrest, and the other cop searched him and found drugs and bolt cutters.
I felt good getting a bike thief off the streets!

I-Like-To-Bike

You did a real service to the public. You should feel good, and proud for your quick thinking and a job well done!

genec

Wow, a downright positive comment from ILTB... (I didn't know you had it in you... )

Gotta agree with you on this too... good quick thinking on the part of the OP.

MMACH 5

Good work!

B. Carfree

Very well done.

vol

+10000

I saw the comment #2 first and thought: well said! Then when I saw the poster, I rubbed my eyes to make sure I didn't misread it.

FBinNY 

Great, too bad it isn't repeated on an every day basis.

here's a true story of the flip side.

Some years back, my wife locked her bike to a lamp post right outside an insurance office (I won't name names). Sure enough it was stolen. So she goes inside to ask if anyone saw anything, and someone told her they saw someone come by with bolt cutters and take the bike. She asked why they didn't do anything, not even call the police.

"too busy".

"OK, I understand, but I hope you're not too busy to process a claim under my homeowners policy"

Yep, it was her insurance carrier, and yes, they did pay the claim.

Looigi

I'm most impressed that the 911 operator was on the ball, figured out something was up and dispatched a cruiser! What city was that in?

I guess the phone volume was low enough that the perp did't hear the 911 operating talking.

Chitown_Mike

Drugs, warrant, bolt cutters, and a stolen bike. I would imagine less of them not hearing and more of them tweaking out to get the thing sold and move on.

OP, bravo too! I will peruse the CL postings in Chicago for people who report stolen bikes and send emails if something sticks out. Never got a response back but who knows.

howsteepisit

Bravo!

jon c. 

Nicely done!

nd2010

Looking back on this, it's pretty easy to understand the criminal's thought process. He's most likely a drug addict looking to get money to buy drugs, so he uses bolt cutters to steal a bike and then tries to sell it to a random person on the street for a really low price.

Of course, the only things certain was that he had a warrant and he had drugs. It's not illegal to go around town with bolt cutters, and we don't know if the bike was stolen until it's reported stolen. So the minimum he could be convicted for is the drugs, as well as whatever the warrant was for.

Nevertheless, I'll gladly go to court to testify against him if they ask me to.

Chicago Al 

Well done and quick thinking, OP!

Chitown Mike, there's a whole section, and much discussion on the Chainlink, the Chicago-centric bike forum. A lotta stolen bikes but some nice recovery stories, particularly due to alert people at certain bike shops.

eofelis 

Good job! Quick thinking.

My bf likes to tell the story of how he got a bike thief arrested. He was working as a wrench at an LBS. One day a guy brought a bike in to have a flat fixed. My bf strongly suspected that it was a stolen bike (I don't recall how/why). He is the only guy in the shop and he is trying to covertly call the cops while keeping the guy around. So he brings the bike in the back and puts it in the stand and takes the rear wheel off and tries to become the most incompetent bike mechanic he can. The cops finally show up and get the guy. Turns out he had stolen camera equipment in his backpack and the bike was stolen from the same place. In the paper the story gives credit to "an alert bike shop employee."

Chitown_Mike

I should go on that site, you are the 5th person this week to mention it to me. Off I go!

kookaburra1701

volosong

nd2010, that's the most ingenious method of delaying a suspect that I've ever heard. Well done!

dougmc

While I do like this story, I wonder if calling 911 without even talking to the dispatcher is ever the right thing to do (unless you're in a situation where your life is in danger and talking on the phone would increase the danger, of course.)

I mean, it probably took the dispatcher a while to figure out what's going on, time that might have been needed handling other emergencies. And the dispatcher probably wasn't able to tell the police what they should expect when they showed up, so they might have shown up more "on edge" than needed.

And finally, the dispatcher could have dismissed the entire thing as a butt-dialing incident and just hung up after nobody would talk to them. (I imagine they're not supposed to do this, but if all they can hear is a conversation about buying a bicycle -- that doesn't really sound like an emergency.)

Either way, good on you!

buzzman

Nicely done.

Just read about the woman, appropriately named "Tuff" who talked the potential school shooter off the cliff and now your story of capturing a bike thief with your wits.

Best defense is your wits!

FBinNY 

Actually dialing 911, and not saying anything when they pick up may be the fastest way to get a police response. They often take these calls as hostage/carjack situations and respond in force.

Some years back I was in the warehouse late at night and pocket dialed 911. I got a silent run, heavily armed response and they were not amused. The officer in charge wasn't ready to accept my "pocket dial" explanation, and read me the riot act, saying a phone wouldn't pocket dial 911. Then I reminded him that to check last night's logs for a report of vandalism or robbery at one of the stores in the center of town, Same phone.

dougmc

Yes, I realize that. And that said ... such a response probably isn't appropriate for a basic "it might be a stolen bicycle" issue. For starters, it's probably somewhat more dangerous for you, as they don't know anything about you or the situation as they come running up.

Kind of reminds me of that old "I thought you said that you'd shot them!" "I thought you said there was nobody available!" joke.

loneviking61

Well congrats on getting a bike thief put away. Last week I stopped one from getting a bike with a pair of bolt cutters. Not a cop in sight. The best I could do was to encourage the owner to beat on the thief who eventually escaped.

ephin

Are you serious? People call 911 when McDonald's is out of Chicken McNuggets or when they temporarily lose their cable service or internet. This certainly warrants a call. Remember the "sales" pitch when 911 first rolled out? "To save a life or stop a crime...". Now you have to use it for every call to the police - (at least in Philadelphia). I had a car accident once right in front of a police precinct. I walked in to report it and the sergeant at the desk told me call 911. I thought he was joking but it soon became clear he wasn't. While "waiting" for the 911 call officer to respond, at least 25 cop cars must've either ridden into the police precinct or left. Not one of them stopped to investigate or even see if anyone was hurt (there was enough damage - over $8K - to my vehicle to suggest the possibility). Kudos to the OP and the 911 operator (and Philadelphia's finest).

dougmc

I didn't say not to call 911 to commit a crime in progress (though it *is* compounded by not having any evidence that there's a crime in progress beyond a gut feeling that's probably correct.)

I said "I wonder if calling 911 without even talking to the dispatcher is ever the right thing to do". If I understood the post properly, the OP called 911 -- and didn't even say hi, or say why he was calling. He just called and left it on, hoping that the dispatcher would figure out what was going on. (He did make sure to give the address, however.) That sort of thing tends to put cops on edge, and you don't usually want cops on edge headed your way unless your life is already in danger and you need them to help get you out of that danger.

And yes, people do call 911 about really stupid stuff. But you do realize that you're not *supposed* to call 911 because McDonalds is out of nuggets, right? (I ask because I'm not sure how that case was relevant to this situation.)

Around here, you call 911 if you need an officer to be dispatched, and 311 if not. But for either number, you're expected to actually talk to the operator and tell them what's going on. If it's an emergency and you can't actually talk they'll cut you some slack, but certainly, they probably don't want people to be calling and not talking to them if it can be avoided.

nd2010

It seemed like the cop that responded was on edge, since he approached pretty fast with lights flashing, and there were 2 cops in that car. By talking about going to the ATM, maybe the dispatcher assumed I was being robbed.

Why shouldn't I call 911 for a suspected bike theft? After all, bike theft usually leads into or feeds another serious crime, in this case, drugs. And bikes aren't cheap. This wasn't calling 911 because of a power outage or a wrong order at McDonalds, this was an actual crime.