How Social Media & The Portland People Helped Return My Bike
On Monday, October 11th, I had my bike stolen from my underground garage in NW Portland. The bike itself was locked up and the building is secure. It was an incredibly sad discovery, as this was my first bike purchase as an adult and I had just bought it in May. Although I was doubtful that I would ever see the bike again, I decided to do everything I could to get it back.
To start the reporting process, I contacted Bike N Hike, which is where I bought my bike just 5 months ago. They gave me the serial number for my bike, which I used to make the various reports with the Portland Police Bureau and Bike Index. A couple hours later, I received an email from one of the awesome folks at Bike N Hike who alerted me to a Craigslist post with information about my bike. A Good Samaritan who lives in the Inner SE had repeatedly seen a truck with various nice looking bikes strapped to it in her neighborhood and decided to say something. Since I could easily identify my bike from the picture she posted (a plus to having bright pink handlebars), I connected with her & she gave me more information on the vehicle.
With license plate info & a photo of my bike on the car, I immediately hit the Internet. I may not be a detective but I used what I did have in my wheelhouse: a profound knowledge of social media. I posted on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Reddit, and Craigslist. I simply asked the Portland network to share. And they did. Thus started my week of sleuthing; receiving countless calls and emails from various people with sightings of the truck.
On Thursday, a Portlander who had seen my posts online, contacted me via the information I put on bikeindex.org, and informed me the truck was at the Burnside Skate Park. He indicated that while my bike was nowhere in sight, there was another nice bike strapped to it. I updated my PPB case file & spoke with cops that afternoon. They went to check it out but told me all the bikes around the skate park checked out. I still believe these bikes had been stolen, but perhaps not yet reported.
On his way home from work, my significant other drove by the skate park and found that the truck was still there. This time, there were three bikes strapped to it. After the driver of the vehicle left on foot & returned with a fourth bike, he called on the cops. They came immediately and arrested him. (Note: it’s not clear whether they arrested him for the theft of these bikes or contents found in his vehicle.) His girlfriend, who was not arrested, remained at the truck. My significant other approached her and after explaining how special this bike was to me, she directed him to a homeless encampment where my bike was stashed under a tarp. My bike had been used as payment for drugs. He recovered the bike, safe and sound.
I know very few people get their bikes back and that my story may be one in a million. However, I am confident that there were two key factors that helped return my bike: the power of social media and the benevolence of the Portland people. Portland is growing by leaps and bounds and like many big cities, vagrancy and theft issues will only become more prolific. It’s easy to be a passerby & to not want to get involved. But when people see something and say something, good things happen.
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