I doubt it since they had to write up an incident report.

Just to clarify I work for an security agency, The only exposure I have is when cops come talk to me during my shift.

Yea my bike has been tagged, I love the attention it gets.

I am always amazed how I live in a autocentric valley, yet have great infrastructure, police who look the other way during my rides, and Cops so vigilant in helping in my collisions or guarding bike parking.

Yet we have so few cyclists. Amazing.

if you speak the English language anywhere nearly as poorly as you write it... no wonder they thought you were a bum ("," and ";" come in handy). dont mean to pick on you, but Christ...

if the cops were watching you before, perhaps they thought the bike you rode to work was stolen (previously, from the area)??

anyways, ****Da Police.

I agree- I find this story very heartening. At least they're doing something to prevent bike-theft, and didn't hassle you when it became apparent that you weren't doing anything mischievous. If it were me, after they let me go I probably would've thanked them for keeping an eye on the bike rack! :)

I have some rather heartwarming stories actually, that reaffirm that it might just be the rule... at least around here.

My boyfriend used to have some pretty bad blood vessels in his left foot, really close to the surface - something connected to the varicose vein condition. It got bad enough at some point that just a bit of rubbing would suddenly produce pools of blood gushing from the foot. One day he was riding a bike and noticed that his left shoe felt really wet even though it was a beautiful sunny summer day. He looked down and noticed that his shoe was thoroughly soaked in blood, so he stopped, sat down on the ground and phoned me for help, asking me to bring some kind of towel or something to wrap around the foot and help stop the bleeding. It all happened a fairly short bike ride from home, so it took me only about 15 minutes to get there. In those 15 minutes, as the blood continued to stream from his foot, forming an appreciably-sized puddle, several dozen people approached him, offering help; someone even offered him a ride to a hospital. And he did look like a bum too :), with his beard and scruffy clothes (he was dressed for gutter-cleaning, which is not exactly a suit-and-tie occasion).

Then there was the time a friend of mine got hit by a U-turning van (a hit-and-run in which the driver never got caught, unfortunately). She was seriously banged-up and disoriented. Immediately a dozen strangers rushed towards her, helped her towards the sidewalk, looked after her bike, called 911, volunteered as witnesses. A similar thing happened when my boyfriend got into a crash once - people rushing toward him and trying to help him (though rather clumsily, but their intentions were good, at least :)).

That would be my takeaway. Plus I'd feel my bike was a lot more secure.

Well so much for secure. Update


I arrive less than 36 hours latter, and three wheels, 2 front and 1 back had been ripped off.

There are now 4 bikes sitting stripped on the racks.
Granted they didn't lock them up properly. But still I get hassled and then this happens?

Welcome to the police state USA. We keep being told that there is an increasing need for police in the USA and that it is necessary to give up rights that are the foundation of what the USA stands for. This kind of thing is the result - mind control. Being searched and harassed because you LOOKED at bicycles on a rack. You didn't steal anything, but even looking at the other bikes and perhaps thinking about them was enough to get you harassed by the police.

More of this is yet to come for sure as we expand our policing and sacrifice more of our freedoms in the name of security and public safety. As Wheel's receont post (just before this one) confirms, all this policing isn't making us safer or more secure, it only leads to more honest citizens being harassed and intimidated by police.

It is similar to all the crap we have to go through to travel by air. Now, we nearly have to get undressed, walk barefoot across a path that thousands of other bacteria laden feet have tred, forfeith all liquids and many personal items, be searched without significant suspicion, and STILL bombers make it onto airplanes.

Presently, we put up with it at airports because we think that the harassment is only for air travelers, but it is coming to YOUR downtown, your schools, your workplaces, and your homes as the police state expands.

At my school the main campus and buildings are in the middle with traffic and roadways surrounding it. I don't think i've ever seen an officer actually walk anywhere. They usually park or drive their SUV's although we do have cruisers. Our parking enforcement has those electric golf carts they could borrow as well. Thank goodness we don't have a high crime rate because I don't think our officers would know where to find them.