Between 8 p.m. Sunday night and 4 a.m. Monday morning, someone cut the chain on my neighbor Matt’s bicycle in his front yard, and stole it.  This is the second bicycle that has been stolen from my neighbor Matt in this past year.

This most recent bicycle that was stolen from Matt was only worth about $100.  However the previous bicycle that was stolen from Matt was worth about $500 to $2,000 because it was a very good condition mountain bike that was a rare, collectible bicycle, that there are very few of in existence.

Six months ago I had my white color Mongoose mountain bicycle stolen where I live in downtown Dickinson.  This bicycle had a 1/2″ diameter steel Master Lock cable going through its frame and tires.  The thieves made an unsuccessful attempt, then came back one week later with a Dremel type cutting disk, and cut through the steel cable.   I say “thieves”, because there were two of them, the theft was recorded by my security camera.

The Mongoose mountain bicycle that was stolen from me was rare.  In the seven years that I owned it, I never ever saw another one like it where I bought it in Texas, or in Idaho, Utah, and North Dakota where I was living.  It had a white frame, with green/black accents, and green/black parts.

My white Mongoose bicycle, and especially Matt’s rare, collectible bicycle, could not be painted without destroying the value.  Even if my stolen bicycle, or Matt’s stolen bicycle were painted, we would still be able to recognize our bicycles.  The point is, whoever stole our bicycles, can’t ride them or try to sell them in Dickinson, and they know it.

Unpainted, at a glance I could recognize my stolen Mongoose bicycle 1/8 mile away on the street, driving by a yard, porch, or open garage.  Matt could recognize his stolen bicycle the same as I could identify mine.  Either one of us spotting our stolen bicycles would result in us stopping the rider, going up to where it was located, talking to whoever had it, and then calling the Police.

It became apparent that these stolen bicycles aren’t being sold or ridden in Dickinson.  I will explain again, that these are not kids doing this.  The thieves recorded by my security camera stealing my bicycle were not kids.  Kids don’t come out at 2:00 a.m. with large bolt cutters and Dremel tools, to cut chains and lock cables.

In any case, even if it were kids who were stealing our bicycles, they are not selling them or riding them in Dickinson.  These stolen bicycles are being stored somewhere, out of sight, in someplace like a backyard with concealment, a basement, garage, utility shed, house, trailer, or van.

There would be no point in stealing these bicycles if the thieves couldn’t sell them or ride them in Dickinson.  The thieves must be taking these stolen bicycles to some place like Bismarck.  Bismarck is the closest large city, 100 miles to the east.

The four hour, 200 mile round trip to Bismarck with stolen bicycles wouldn’t be worth the time and the cost of the trip, unless the thieves had more than several stolen bicycles to sell.  This means that the thieves have to be using either a van or an enclosed utility trailer to make the trip to Bismarck, or wherever they are traveling to sell these stolen bicycles.

Is has occurred to me, and other people have commented to me, that it should not be that difficult for the Police in Dickinson to find out who has a van load or trailer load full of stolen bicycles.  They just have to catch the bicycle thief one time, or a neighbor has to see this happening and report it, or a criminal in custody has to snitch, or an informant has to tell, and then its over for this bicycle theft ring of criminals.

It’s kind of like the Police in Dickinson are allowing this to happen, like this is harmless.  I wonder if the Police in Dickinson aren’t using some kind of logic like, “If we let these people steal small things, and commit small crimes, then they won’t have to commit big crimes like armed robbery.”

I wish that the Police in Dickinson would try to stop all crime, and not have any tolerance for any crime.  But, crime in Dickinson is not entirely the fault of the Police.  The Judges and the Department of Corrections keep letting all the criminals loose on parole/probation instead of jail/prison.