Have You Seen This Man? SFPD Says He's a Bike Thief

In a stroke of brilliance SFPD Anti-Bike Theft Departments at Mission and Park Stations, both serving the Castro, have launched a Twitter account posting electronic wanted posters of suspected or confirmed bike thieves upping the ante in the war on bike crime. They're hoping this latest crime fighting innovation will attract and enlist  tech savvy, smart phone/social media focused SFians to help them keep a sharp eye peeled for confirmed suspects, report them via 911 and stop more bikes from being ripped off. Here's Shawn Sixta, the latest to be tagged 'thief', who's furrowed brow will probably see a few more wrinkles once he's clued in SFPD has slapped his mug shot up all over the internet.

The SF bike/parts theft scourge is alive and well within the confines of the Castro. You see remnants of  neighbors metal steeds laying forlorn and cannibalized everywhere. These expensive two wheelers, victims of bike part vultures, are a constant sidewalk reminder that crime is alive and well within the confines of our community. Our own Castro Biscuit publisher and avid rider, Roy, has had his bike stolen--twice. City bike theft statistics are grim: an estimated 4000+ purloined every year. Of that SFPD recovers about 850. Within that number only 150 returned to their rightful owners. The Twitter account will serve multiple purposes in the fight to stem bike crime:  inform citizens of risk, show images of recovered bikes, publicize SFPD's ongoing efforts/successes at combating the crime and--added bonus--publicly shame thieves.

SFPD isn't the first in SF to use Twitter to identify bikenappers and help identify and reclaim stolen ones. SBR San Francisco, Stolen Bike Registry, has been listing and tracking thieves, parts and bikes online for quite some time. Their Twitter profile pix/logo leaves little one's imagination exactly where they stand on the subject. Over the top for sure, but, encapsulates the frustration and anger City bike theft victims feel post discovery that they've  been robbed or bikes been jacked up for parts that'll cost hundreds, and is some cases, thousands of dollars to replace or fix. At the Aug 1st Castro Community Meeting on Safety, the second held this year, the crux of the word coming down from SFPD and other City officials was, "Castro residents must work together to help fight crime."

SFPD is short-handed and under staffed for the next 2-5 years due to necessarily rigid City screening process for potential officers and the speed of how future police academy classes matriculate. Until SFPD ranks are back up to capacity we will have to rely on each other more than ever if we want to see a change in day-to-day petty crime statistics. This SFPD Twitter account is one new tool to assist in that cause. Let's hope more crime fighting innovation comes along and perhaps we can see a return to a few of the old school classics like active SFPD foot and bike patrols as well.