[*BCM*] Police Stealing Bikes (was: no subject)

[Jym Dyer]

=v= Sometimes policies which go unenforced and unused for years
(even decades) will be resurrected for political reasons.  E.g.,
when it's time to come up with some unConstitutional selective
enforcement when there's, say, a Republicrat or Demublican
convention in town.

=v= We've certainly seen that in New York City last month (and
continued to some extent into this month as a smokescreen).
It's included the police stealing bikes (see below).
    <_Jym_>

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/26/nyregion/26bike.html

Police Sawed Through Locks And Seized Bikes, Riders Say
	By COLIN MOYNIHAN
New York Times | 26-Sep-2004

Although about 1,000 bicyclists on a mass ride moved peacefully
through Manhattan on Friday night with just a small number of
arrests, riders complained yesterday that the police had seized
about 40 bicycles at one location after sawing through locks
securing them to sign posts and light poles.

Many of the bicycles had been locked on East 36th Street, near
Fifth Avenue, by cyclists who said they became worried when the
police arrested a few ride participants. But others may have
belonged to people who had nothing to do with the ride, they
said.

The monthly ride, called Critical Mass, has been held in
New York for the last several years to promote nonpolluting
transportation. This was the first since more than 200 riders
were arrested last month. That ride was billed as a protest
against the Republican National Convention and drew thousands
of cyclists.

Yesterday, the police said the bicycles seized on Friday night
had been abandoned. The bicyclists disagreed, saying the
fact that the bikes had been locked meant they had not been
abandoned.

"There appears to be no legal predicate for seizing the
bicycles," said Norman Siegel, a civil rights lawyer who
assisted bicyclists arrested during the convention.
"Consequently, the police appear to have engaged in unlawful
activity."

Mr. Siegel added that it might be necessary to get a court order
to prevent the police from taking locked bicycles in the future.

When the riders gathered at Union Square on Friday night, police
officers handed out fliers saying that those who broke traffic
laws would be subject to arrest and the seizure of their
bicycles. But the fliers said nothing about the possibility that
locked bicycles might be seized.

The ride began congenially. Officers blocking cars waved the
mass through red lights and were thanked by some cyclists. The
riders paused twice on Park Avenue to allow ambulances to pass.

But confusion started at Broadway and 33rd Street when many
riders thought they were being blocked by the police and fled
east on 36th Street.

The police stopped riders at Fifth Avenue and arrested eight
people on charges of disorderly conduct. Many riders locked
their bicycles and dispersed on foot, only to find when they
returned that their bicycles were being seized. Some said that
they were able to retrieve their bikes yesterday at the Seventh
Precinct station house at Delancey and Pitt Streets.

Bill DiPaola, the executive director of Times Up!, an
environmental group that promotes the ride, said the police
had acted in good faith most of the night until the seizures.

"The cycling community is very upset over what they consider
theft of the bicycles," he said. "We are hoping this is not a
new policy."