Posts Tagged ‘theft’
Friday, July 22nd, 2011
Do you know how much bad art we pay for? I mean, there’s lots and lots of (government-funded and government-mandated) bad art around town, let me tell you.
OTOH, popular photographer Justin Ryan Beck does his good art, his street photography, for free for one and all – isn’t that nice?
Or least it was nice, until yesterday, when the digital camera he was using got stolen out of his hands in the Richmond District at four-something PM in the afternoon:
“I’m OK but was just robbed at the corner of Arguello and Balboa. Talked to cops. Time for a new camera I guess. :/”
Here’s his last photo. It appears he’ll be on a break for a while.
Oh well.
How can we get a DSLR, preferably a new Nikon along with a wide anglish lens or two, back into the hands of JRB, you know, where it rightfully belongs?
Tags: assault, balboa, battery, broken, cameras, digital, district, dslr, hands, images, inner, justin beck, justin ryan beck, nikon, Photographer, photographs, photography, police, richmond, robbery, SFPD, slr, Station, stoeln, theft, thief, twitter
Posted in art, crime, photography | 3 Comments »
Monday, July 11th, 2011
Thusly:
Click to expand
Don’t know what did this kind of damage.
Anyway, that’s the evidence, as found on Oak Street north of SoPA and South of NoPA, so it’s up to you to figure the M.O.
[Oh, an angle grinder - that also could explain the burning. See comments.]
[Oh, it could have been an oxy-acetylene torch as well. See comments.]
Or it could have been Arnold – he has the equipment, anyway.
Tags: 2011, angle grinder, bay area, bicycle, bicyclist, bike, california, cutter, cyclists, lock, oxy-acetylene, plasma, San Francisco, stoeln, theft, thermite, Torch, u-lock
Posted in bikes, crime | 4 Comments »
Friday, June 10th, 2011
A happy bicycle thief strolls past the bike racks on Grove right in front of San Francisco’s Main Public Library.
This is the locus of bike theft for Northern California.
Oh well.
Anyway, bikes function in this area as money, meeting all the standards – medium of exchange, store of value, you name it.
Click to expand
(Unless it’s a Bianchi, then it’s worth more.)
Your bike, the one that somebody has stolen or will steal, is worth $20. 
Oh well.
“The suspect said that the bike lock was so cheap and the bike was so expensive that it was beyond his control to not steal it,” Northern police Capt. Ann Mannix said during a Wednesday police meeting on crime trends.
Libraries and bikes just don’t match in the Twitterloin.
On It Goes.
And oh yes, your mid-to-late-90′s aluminum Trek is no longer worth $1000. And not even the “Bike Shepherd” can find it for you:
- Theft description: Stolen between 8:40 – 10:15 PM April 21, 2011 Grove & Market bike racks in front of the SF Public Library Main Branch, during a performance at Kunst-Stoff Arts space across the street. Homeless man said he saw a guy with bolt cutters, but unsure of this report.
- Make: Trek
- Model: ZX 7000
- Frame size:
- Manufacture year: ’96 / ’97 / ’98?
- Color: Green & Purple
- Serial:
- Value: $1,000 + ?
- Description: Stolen between 8:40 – 10:15 PM Grove & Market bike racks in front of the SF Public Library Main Branch TREK ZX 7000 Forest green, royal purple frame Hybrid: mountain frame + road tires Black & silver Terry bike seat Upward curving silver handlebars Red & silver University of Colorado at Boulder registration tag # ending in 75 & Pinhead locks
- Status: stolen
- Finder’s fee: None
- Taken from: In front of the San Francisco Public Library Main Branch
- Last seen: 21-Apr-2011
Tags: 2011, bay area, bicycle, bike, california, crime, library, lock, main, money, public, San Francisco, SFPD, stolen, theft, twitterloin
Posted in bikes | No Comments »
Tuesday, May 3rd, 2011
See?
Angle Grinder Man had just taken out the old, poorly-designed snake-like rack. [Cue Finest Worksong.] The bunch of new light-silvery racks you can see should be in place by now.
I dare you to park your bike here betwixt Union Square and San Francisco Centre overnight. Without proper theft hardening, and very possibly even with, the little monsters will have taken the bulk of it by sun-up. Truth.
Click to expand
If you think this sitch of not having enough bike racks around town is all Crazy Rob Anderson’s fault, well, we’ll have to disagree.
The time to rise has been engaged
You’re better best to rearrange
I’m talking here to me alone
I listen to the finest worksong
Your finest hour
Your finest hour
Tags: 2011, bay area, bicycle, bike, bikes, california, crime, cut cutting, cyclists, dpw, fifth, mall, market, new, nordstrom, rack, racks, San Francisco, sf san francisco centre, SFPD, shopping, stolen, street, theft, union square
Posted in bikes, crime | No Comments »
Tuesday, April 5th, 2011
Or seatpin or saddlepole or whatever you call the tube of metal or whatnot that the little monsters tend to also take when they set out to steal bike parts.
Now this kind of thing just didn’t happen back in the day. The bike thief of the 1990′s would do things proper, he’d take the trouble to first steal a Volvo car jack and then he’d carry it around all over the place hoping for the chance to jack your ride by applying force to your U-lock. Then he’d ride off.
I think I prefer the old-school thieves.
Or maybe this fellow is a stud what doesn’t need a saddle. (Actually I think I recognize him through his shoes.) Anyway, one for the ladies:
Click to expand
The point is that you’d almost never see this kind of pathetic scene back in the good olde days…
Tags: 2011, bay area, bicycle, bike, california, cyclists, parts, post, saddle, sadlepole, San Francisco, seatpost, set, stolen, thefft, theft, thieves
Posted in bikes | 2 Comments »
Thursday, January 27th, 2011
I don’t know, I suspect that if this U-lock had been just a skosh smaller, it wouldn’t have been so easy to break.
I still think that protecting accessories is the big issue, so consider this image a kind of Minority Report.
Evidence of a clean getaway in the Financh – unusual these days…
Be on guard. This place is full of vultures, vultures everywhere,everywhere.
Tags: 2010, 2011, ball, bay area, bearing, bicycle, bike, broken, california, cyclists, headset, kryptonite, lock, onguard, parts, police, San Francisco, San Francisco Zoo, skewers, superglue, theft, thief
Posted in bikes | 1 Comment »
Thursday, December 16th, 2010
The inderspensable Uptown Almanac seems to have a theme of bike thievery, lately. See?
Via The UA
Now, back in the day, back in the 1970′s and 1980′s, bike thieves would strive to take your whole bike, and usually, they would succeed. But then came the U- Lock. The Bike Theft Community responded by carrying around Volvo car jacks, and freeze gas, and whatnot. But that wasn’t too practical, it turned out. And U Locks got better – physically smaller and harder to pick. So, the Bike Theft Community responded by being satisfied to simply strip parts from your bike for easy resale. And that’s the situation we have now.
I’ll tell you, back in the day, the 415 didn’t have such a robust market for stolen bike parts running 24-7 the way we do now. That’s why, especially when compared with most other parts of the USA, your focus should be on protecting accessories on the frame as opposed to the frame itself. Sure, U locks still get broken, but not at all at the rate of two decades ago, that’s for sure.
Now, because the average low-life bike theft tweeker has seemingly lost the technology of breaking U locks, you can safely go cheap, like a $15 OnGuard / WalMart.com special. That’ll free up some of your cash to protect the things that matter:
Wheels
Saddle/seatpost
Headset
How do you do that? I don’t know, cables and chains and leashes and locking skewers and ball bearings superglued into your headset, thusly. Anything to make your low-life tweeker bike thief carry a bunch of different kinds of tools around, anything to make your low-life tweeker bike thief reconsider a few life choices.
Bon courage!
Encountering a 21st century horse thief outside of your favorite local bar. Oh well:
Via, once again, TUA
Tags: (SAN), 2010, ball, bay area, bearing, bicycle, bike, california, cyclists, headset, kryptonite, lock, onguard, parts, police, San Francisco, San Francisco Zoo, skewers, superglue, theft, thief
Posted in bikes, crime | 2 Comments »
Tuesday, November 30th, 2010
I’ll tell you, back in the day, back in the 1990′s the law school I ‘tended was so notorious for bike theft, a lock company decided to test its products there.
Something like “BONZ” was the name of the outfit – the locks had cross-braces (the namesake bones, I s’pose) to make sure the little monsters didn’t crank the things open with stolen Volvo car jacks. Ah memories.
Now, the new canine-themed bike lock company out there is called On Guard, competing with Kryptonite and what have you. Fine, but here’s how they get you, they’re selling a Chinese-made U-Lock with a security cable for just $15. See?
This thing feels like a toy compared with my old school New York Lock (the kind with the pre-9/11 World Trade Center skyline logo – they said wouldn’t change the design but they did, oh well) but it doesn’t look too much different from the real deal.
Of course, with the Wal-Mart version, you only get two keys instead of five and there’s no key number for getting a replacement key and there’s no warranty on bike theft, but, in mitigation, this set-up would probably make the average San Francisco bike thief move on for easier pickings.
Anyway, if you see these locks on sale in SoMA (and you will if you look) that’s why these decontented-but-still-usable locks are so cheap.
And remember, it’s in the way that you use it.
As seen in SoMA:
Tags: bones, bonze, canine, cheap, China, chinese, dog, kryptonite, on guard, security, theft, them, wal mart, walmart
Posted in bikes | 1 Comment »
Monday, April 5th, 2010
That’s my guess anyway, in the pool I’m in, the First Apple iPad Theft on BART or MUNI pool.
I have April 7th from 5:00-6:00 PM – wish me luck. (Only genuine iPad thefts count, of course.)
Speaking of which, comes now the BART Police, reminding us to protect our coveted shinies when we’re on Bay Area Rapid Transit trains. Check it out, below.
BART police taking care of bidness near Civic Center Station. Is the TASER on the other side of the belt? No se:
Here it is, with more typos than an average post from this blog. Stay safe!
04.05.2010
The Apple iPad was just released this past weekend, and commuters already are toting the tablet computers along on BART – prompting lots of riders to report their first sightings of iPads “in the wild” on BART.
Along with attracting attention from curious commuters, the iPad — like other easily portable and expensive electronic devices — may also be a new target for potential thieves. BART Police are using the occasion as a reminder of general safety tips for protecting your personal property while on BART.
- Stay alert and pay close attention to your surroundings. Those who “zone out” listening to music on their iPods, texting on their phones, playing video games or working on laptop computers make themselves easier targets.
- Hold on to your belongings – do not leave them lying out of your reach on the seat next to you or on the floor.
- Keep purses or backpacks close to the front of your body. On a crowded train, something hanging behind you might create a crime of opportunity for a thief.
- If it is possible, don’t stand directly by the train doors with your electronic device, because that could give a thief an easier exit to “grab and go” as the door is closing.
- Be the eyes and ears for others around you to help create a safer community for everyone.
- If you observe suspicious activity or a possible crime there are many ways to report it; visit the BART Safety Guidelines for more detail on what to do on a train or in a station.
Tags: (BART), 2010. april, apple, bart6, bay area, Bay Area Rapid Transit, Berkeley, computer, department, dept., imac, ipad, iphone, it doesn't have Flash?, laptop, notebook, Oakland, police, San Francisco, SFPD, stolen, swat, theft
Posted in police, transit | No Comments »
Friday, November 27th, 2009
How did you prepare for Thanksgiving on Wednesday afternoon? Probably you were stealing iPhones off of MUNI‘s N Judah? No? Really? All right, well somebody was, a teenaged (or tweenaged) girl, in fact.
Par for the course, you say? Well this iPhone was recovered after pursuit from marathoner Chris Phipps. Read all about it on Murphstahoe’s Holier Than You Blog.
And read the informative Tweets below.
See? NextTheft works sometimes. Just like NextMUNI:
via Jamison, somewhat. Click to expand.
Here are the revelatory Tweets from Canabalt-loving Chris Phipps:
“A thief just stole the iPhone of the woman sitting next to me on muni. I jumped off the train, ran after her & caught her in reply to Im4tun8″Echofon from thuntil the SFPD arrived 4:50 PM Nov 25
I yelled “I’m a marathon runner, I will catch you…eventually” 3:46 PM Nov 25th from Echofon
Woman got her iphone back, called 911 & SFPD were here within 3 minutes. 3:48 PM Nov 25th from Echofon
@jeffremer I don’t know about heroic. The thief was a 16yo girl. Had it been a 200 pound guy, I don’t know what I’d do if I caught him 4:01 PM Nov 25th from Echofon
@munialerts N Judah @ Noe & Duboce. Around 3:40 PM4:16 PM Nov 25th from Echofon in reply to munialerts
@Im4tun8 Thanks. Several others in the park who were witnesses stopped to help detain & watch the suspect. Echofon from th. 3:45 PM Nov 25″
So, the next time you see some Apple product flying out the rear door of your MUNI vehicle, ask yourself, What Would Chris Phipps Do?
Tags: $25, 2009, apple, bus, crime, duboce, Echofon, eventually, I will catch you, iphone, iPod, marathon, marathon runner, mta, Muni, Murphstahoe, n judah, nexcttheft, noe, November, robbery, runner, San Francisco, SFMTA, SFPD, shris phipps, street, streetcar, thanksgiving, theft, tweet, twitter
Posted in crime | Comments Off
