As Scott Moore set out for an evening stroll through the neighborhood with his children, he moved a couple of bikes aside to get through the open carport. Upon return, the two bikes were gone and a different one, one that did not belong to him or his wife, sat in their place.
Knowing their neighbors in the close-knit area, Catherine Moore didn’t suspect that their belongings had been stolen.
“I just thought my neighbor or one of the neighborhood kids had borrowed them,” she says.
Because this seemed like a logical explanation for the missing bikes, the Moores didn’t call police right away. According to Catherine, within about 24 hours some of their neighbors also had things such as saws and golf clubs stolen from their property, and one neighbor reported a car break-in.
The following evening Scott went for a walk with a neighbor and spotted an unfamiliar man walking around in the alley. That’s when their suspicions grew enough to take action.
“My husband called the police the next day, but they couldn’t help without the serial numbers for the bikes. I never wrote them down,” says Catherine.
She called the shop where the bikes were purchased, but they did not keep records of serial numbers.
To avoid crimes from being committed, reporting suspicious behavior is important. According to Deputy Chief David Elliston of the North Central Patrol Division, if people see someone in their neighborhood that doesn’t seem like they should be there, police should be notified immediately so that they can identify the reason for the unknown person’s presence.
Because the bikes were sitting next to Catherine’s car in the carport, she thought it was strange that someone would steal them, knowing she was at home.
“A good idea to keep bikes from being stolen is to get a bike lock and chain it to a post or something,” Elliston says. “The main thing is you should get your property out of sight. Take belongings into the house or keep them in the back yard and lock them up.”
Also, he says, keeping a list of serial numbers as new property is purchased. “Keep copies of the list in places like your car or a lock box,” he adds.
Elliston also suggests that people purchase engraving pens and engrave their driver’s license numbers on valuable property – that way stolen items can be traced back to their owner with one identifiable number.
In the 10 years the Moores have lived in the neighborhood, they’ve only been victimized one other time when their bus was broken into while parked in the carport. They’ve come up with their own solution to protecting their property from theft in the future.
“We’re now looking into closing up the carport and turning it into a garage,” Catherine says.
