I locked my bike up at work.
I went to change my clothes into a uniform.
I came out of the bath room from changing.
I was met by three police officers.
They wanted to know what I was doing near the bike rack
They alleged I was messing with bikes
I did nothing and cited this.
They let me go.
I started work.









Ok this is probably one of those feel good not so feel good stories.

Background I work as a security officer at a University.

I arrive at work, and go to lock my bike up by the outside rack. I paused a bit to relax from my 12 mile ride before locking my bike up. I then take the front tire off and proceed to to struggle as I always do in locking my bike up. The whole time the University cops are watching me. Unknown to me.

So I finally get my bike locked up. I always double check my locking job. .
I walk into work, in the meantime the police are converging on me trying to detain me. .

I walk into work and go to the the bathroom to change my clothes. I come out of the bathroom and 2 cops along with a bike cop are ready to detain me.

I put my gear down as ordered, and they go through the warrant stage. The police ask me about my bike, which is easy I love it. They then let me go obliviously not messing with bikes. I am most certain that my previous bike locking (I have been working here and locking my bike up for the last month) was a factor here. They had a description of me down to a to every detail. I normally take a long time to lock my bike, I have a lot of stuff, and its late at night.

I guess you can't even lust after bikes at the rack here.

Things not so happy with, I am profiled as a bum, they didn't stop me at the bike rack (waited till I was at work), I am nervous now every time I lock my bike up (I must not some how look like a criminal), and I felt like a criminal (the whole police force showed 8 officers, cars, and bikes ).

Things I am happy about my bike should never get ripped off, and I wasn't late to work even after a 10 min. detainment.

Sorry about the profile, but a good story, nonetheless.

When I got in a bike accident a few months ago I was sitting on the side of the road, bleeding from my head, with a broken collar bone, and nobody stopped. My dad said it was because I looked like a bum. I guess that happens when you spend all your money on your bike

That was the hardest to understand story I've read in several weeks. It took 3 tries to tell what you were talking about.

It's pretty sad that that matters. Maybe it's just because I don't live somewhere where there are ever people just sitting or lying around, but I don't think I could just walk past someone that was bleeding or obviously in pain.

Better?

You're the exception rather than the rule.

Several months back when I wiped out on the way in, the bike was unrideable and I was bleeding badly from some major asphalt rash, I limped to a Metro station to try to get home. I went down the elevator with a Metro guy with blood running down my arm and dripping off my fingertips. Wearing shorts and had the knee skinned badly and bleeding down the leg. He never said a word. I stood on the platform, got on the train, then got on a bus to get where I was going.. NOT a soul said a thing.

Heck, if I had some disease I could have killed half a city with the body fluids I left behind.

Relax about everyone showing up. This is probably the most exciting thing that has happened for the University police during a morning shift in the past 3 months. Also, they probably figured a thief on a bike had a good chance of getting away from a cop in a "cage." Just you weren't the thief they were looking for.

I'm sure that adrenal rush when those cops walked up to you though was not fun.

Did you need help?

wheel: All things considered, I'd say they did the right thing. Someone spending an abnormal amount of time fiddling with bikes on a rack is suspicious if you don't see them ride up and start locking up their bike. Would you rather they not investigate something that could be some guy stealing parts or accessories from bikes on the rack?

"Background I work as a security officer at a University."

So you work for security and you get hassled by them?

I'd be glad if my bike rack was policed that carefully.

Police, at least around here, tend to detain pretty much anyone doing anything. Sometimes they over react a bit or arrest the wrong person. A man caught a guy breaking into his house so he asked what he was doing. The burglar proceeded to beat the man. When the police arrived the burglar said he was just walking down the road and the home owner said to come to his house. When he got there the home owner tried to punch him so he defended himself. The police arrested the home owner and let the burglar go free. While the home owner was in jail that night, the burglar returned and started cleaning the house out. A neighbor called in and he was arrested and the home owner finally set free. It was in the news and the officers said they were sorry but they were just doing their job as best they could. Stories like this happen all the time.

I guess from an officer's perspective it might be hard to distinguish what's going on, especially at night, and they can't really trust anything anyone says. They're pretty much always at risk of being injured or killed, so you can't hold much against them. There are times though where they will flip out and do something crazy such as shooting an innocent person, but those are few and far between.

The good news is they now know who you are and probably won't hassle you in the future.

weather help was needed or not is a moot point. you would think a person with semi severe injuries (leaving a trail of blood) would need help, or at least i would think they need help. then again i have been hit by a little old lady driving, literaly across the street from whare i used to work, and nobody gave a damn. honestly, for the most part, people realy dont gie a damn about one another unless they know the person. sad, horrible truth about the majority of society.

to the OP, sucks that you were mistaken a a thief/vagrent, but honestly the police force would rather waste its time harrassing innocent people than actualy doing thier jobs.

Yea that pretty much sums it up winter break. Yes coming out of the bathroom to police officers detaining you right before you work is not what you want to hear.

I told them that I wasn't worried after I realized what they wanted to know. I didn't do anything wrong, and if was my bike I would want the same thing.

Well, funny you mention that. A couple of police officers talked to me afterwards. One cop was telling the other cops when I wasn't around ...yea that guy rides from Scottsdale. (Thats a long way for them). They were all impressed. I won't get hassled again that's for sure.

Yep I agree

Yea never thought of it that way.

You'd think they would know who he is already... he works with them. That is the odd part. His co-workers apparently didn't know or maybe didn't understand that he was a cyclist. (although you'd think they would have seen him at the rack before). Then they confronted him right there in uniform. Hello... what were they thinking.

Of course the flip side is perhaps this was just "new guy" harassment. Sort of along the lines of "Pssst... hey "new guy" is out messin' with his bike... let's go get our jollys."

He's probably lucky they didn't Tase him.

Shades of Reno 911... yikes!

sounds wonderful. Great to hear they're policing bike racks.

I'm definitely glad to be living where I am. The only problem you'd have in my town would be making any progress past the people asking you if you needed any help. On the few occasions I've flatted, in the 10 minutes it takes to fix I've always had 3 or 4 people stop and ask if I needed any help, even though I've been on country roads where only maybe 10 people went by in that amount of time.

I don't think I'd choose to live in a place where people sucked that much.

The bad: You were mistakenly tagged as as someone trying to steel your bike.
The good: Your bike is now tagged as yours.

Continue locking it at the same rack. If security see someone else messing with it, hopefully they detain that person.

This is why I love Kansas. Sure we've got the a-holes and jerks trying to run cyclists off the road, but we've also got lots of people that are more than happy to help a stranger in need.

You should be HAPPY that the police are so vigilant in your neck of the woods.

True story - I had my car (which I rarely drove in the first place) wrecked while I was making a legal U turn in downtown LA about 5 weeks ago. A speeding driver in a big SUV ran a red light, smashed two vehicles in the intersection, then crushed my passenger side door (nobody in it fortunately) rendering my car undriveable. They then took off, hit-n-run felony, and went so fast that nobody got the plate info. 2 sheared off bumpers, tons of broken glass including my entire half windshield, and other debris in the middle of a really busy intersection. 3 calls to 911 from the 3 crashed cars (fortunately nobody injured) the moment we were hit.

It took the cops nearly 2 hours to even show up on the scene. This is at 8PM Thursday night in front of one of the busiest restaurants in Los Angeles. With lots of debris in the intersection.

You think cops would even blink an eye even if someone was stealing a bike in front of the police station around here? They barely even show up for felony hit and run crimes!

My vote is on the: it was a prank on the cyclist by co-workers.

Just a touch of fun at your expense.

I was changing out my inner tube in the dark under the highway overpass and a truck stop to check up on me to see if I was OK and if I need help. He said he saw my rear flasher going an not seeing anyone so he stop and check just in case. Of course, I thanks him for being such a nice person.

it's interesting that anyone keeps an eye on bikes in general. that's cool though cuz then your bike will be safe. and now that they know you they will not question you. I once got a ticket for entering the wrong security code that my boss gave me. when the cops arrived my boss was there and explained everything, but i still got the ticket and now "I am known the the police dept int hat town"