2008 Woodie Awards
Police handle spare bikes
Laura Uhlmansiek
Issue date: 12/4/03 Section: News
"[The bike] was a piece of crap, that's why I was shocked it was stolen," Meyer said. "It's a rusted, faded, hot pink, old bicycle."
Meyer said she managed to get her bicycle back.
"This girl heard me telling a friend that my bike was stolen, and she said she saw a bike in this yard, so I went back there and stole it back," Meyer said.
Unfortunately, finding stolen bicycles is not always that easy.
"Sometimes there's someone who just wants to steal it for the money or for the parts," Johnson said. "Then the chances of you seeing it again are pretty slim unless you happen to catch them at the time. If somebody's stealing it for the money, they're going to take it out of the city and sell it somewhere else most generally."
Bike owners can help police identify stolen bicycles they recover by registering their bikes at either the police department or Public Safety, who share records of registered bikes.
"It gives us and Kirksville police a record of the bike and a serial number," Johnson said. "When we get a bike reported stolen to us, we use the serial number so we can enter it into a national crime computer."
If students have had their bicycle stolen, they can ask Public Safety to check their records for recovered bicycles.
"We're also on Kirksville's system, so we can check to see if Kirksville happens to have it in their records," Johnson said.
As for the bikes in the storage building, they will continue to collect dust until someone claims them or the police department donates them to local charities.
Nothing has been done with the bicycles for about a year, but in the past, some of the bikes still in good condition were donated to the Salvation Army and the Kirksville Junior High School, Farnsworth said.
"Approxi-mately two years ago, we gave the bikes to the Family Advocacy Center," Farnsworth said. "We gave them the bikes that were in good condition, and they had kids that actually worked on the bikes and then gave them away to people who needed bikes."
Meyer said she managed to get her bicycle back.
"This girl heard me telling a friend that my bike was stolen, and she said she saw a bike in this yard, so I went back there and stole it back," Meyer said.
Unfortunately, finding stolen bicycles is not always that easy.
"Sometimes there's someone who just wants to steal it for the money or for the parts," Johnson said. "Then the chances of you seeing it again are pretty slim unless you happen to catch them at the time. If somebody's stealing it for the money, they're going to take it out of the city and sell it somewhere else most generally."
Bike owners can help police identify stolen bicycles they recover by registering their bikes at either the police department or Public Safety, who share records of registered bikes.
"It gives us and Kirksville police a record of the bike and a serial number," Johnson said. "When we get a bike reported stolen to us, we use the serial number so we can enter it into a national crime computer."
If students have had their bicycle stolen, they can ask Public Safety to check their records for recovered bicycles.
"We're also on Kirksville's system, so we can check to see if Kirksville happens to have it in their records," Johnson said.
As for the bikes in the storage building, they will continue to collect dust until someone claims them or the police department donates them to local charities.
Nothing has been done with the bicycles for about a year, but in the past, some of the bikes still in good condition were donated to the Salvation Army and the Kirksville Junior High School, Farnsworth said.
"Approxi-mately two years ago, we gave the bikes to the Family Advocacy Center," Farnsworth said. "We gave them the bikes that were in good condition, and they had kids that actually worked on the bikes and then gave them away to people who needed bikes."
