Rash of Scooter Crime
This is from the owner of Scoot Richmond. She also discusses some of the steps that Scoot takes to make sure they are not helping a criminal get a stolen scooter back up and running. It is nice to hear about a local business taking these actions.
Theft of 2 wheeled vehicles is extremely intense right now, in woodland
heights and beyond. There were 3 scooters stolen from the fenced lot at
2000 Riverside Dr all at once last week. And over the weekend, a scooter
was stolen from in front of a house on the 800 block of W 29th St.That’s not even mentioning the 6 or 7 that were stolen from the fan and
northside over the past 10 days…If you own a scooter or motorcycle, make sure you lock it up!!
And if you see anything or anyone sketchy doing anything sketchy, PLEASE
call the police.Additionally, if you saw anything in conjunction with the specific incidents
I’ve mentioned, please let me know and I’ll let the owners and authorities
know. Anything that might even be vaguely related would be a huge help.If you have a scooter or motorcycle that HAS been stolen recently, please
get in touch with the VIN. We get a lot of sketchy looking vehicles here
trying to get stuff like ignition switches, and we ALWAYS run the VIN to
make sure that the vehicle isn’t stolen. We have recovered quite a few
bikes this way. It’s far easier for us to help if we have the VINs in our
database of stolen vehicles.
Lock your scoot up at all times, even for a minute. Scooters are funny, they just seem to vannish.
Someone could set up a bait scooter with a motion activated GPS transmitter. They’d be able to follow the criminals back to the rest of the stolen scooters, get a warrant, and arrest them for theft and whatever other illegal stuff they’ve got there.
Actually, there’s a DIY fix using a stun gun, gps, and cell phone making the rounds with bicycle riders.
Haven’t heard of it being used in this area, but it’s apprently very effective
in not only locating the stolen bike, but inflicting instant punishment as well.
I would NOT SUGGEST it’s use because if the perp was in trafic or something when he/she was knocked for a loop, there would be SERIOUS PROBLEMS for the scooter owner for sure.
However, this does suggest that GPS locator units in some form or another is the way to go.
They should BE REQUIRED for anyone who buys a scooter, as I’m sure that cops are spending a great deal of time and resouces dealing with these thefts at a time when violent crime is on the increase.