Right on, ride on

Just wanted to spread the word about something I just saw on the Boston PD twitter page.

Stolen Bikes Boston is a City of Boston service for registering your bike with the city and reporting if your bike has been stolen. These reports get sent to the Boston Police, local bike shops, hospital and school security, and anyone generally following the new Twitter account or Facebook account. There is also a way to report if you have seen a bike that has been stolen to help it get back to its rightful owner.

And remember, it’s important to lock your bike up sanely to deter theft. Here are some examples of how not to lock your bike up:
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Right on the heels of yesterday’s news that Boston is looking to bring a bike sharing program to the city: Boston police could cut horse (and bike) unit(s), lay off recruits to help fill budget gap. Emphasis mine, things missing from the title.

Now, I realize this is the Commissioner’s idea where the bike share program is the city’s, but come on – this doesn’t look like a consistent message!

You’re going to need more bike units, not less, to help keep our community safe from the raging vehicularists. The best way to know the issues is to submerse yourself in them, keep the bike cops! How are you going to know what we cyclists deal with in our city travels if all of your officers are riding around in (costly) steel-reinforced cars or SUVs? And how is that saving money, again?

Whatever your sentiments on Critical Mass are, this is just despicable.

Update: here is a little bit more information via BoingBoing. The cyclist was arrested and charged with attempted assault and resisting arrest. Wtf?!

Update 20080729

The police officer has been stripped of his badge and gun. He was just out of the Police Academy, third generation officer, and did not seem to file an accurate report of the event based on the video that was anonymously posted.