Marisa O'Neil
If your bicycle's missing, you might want to check with the Newport
Beach Police Department.
In the basement of the Police Department, nearly 60 apparently
abandoned bikes, picked up by officers, hang from racks. There are
mountain bikes, beach cruisers, rusted frames, new frames, a
primer-gray frame and one with flames painted on it.
One has a half-empty bottle of water still in its holder. Another
has a beach towel secured by bungee cord on the rear fender.
The bikes are the latest in a stream of two-wheelers that end up
at the station, waiting for owners to claim them, Newport Beach Sgt.
Steve Shulman said. Unclaimed bikes get a 120-day grace period before
getting shipped off to auction.
"A lot of bikes are stolen and not reported," Shulman said. "Lots
of people don't copy the serial number or get a license. Otherwise we
could find everybody."
Officers take abandoned bikes, especially unlocked ones, for
safekeeping -- to prevent them from being stolen, he said. But police
don't go around grabbing every unlocked, unlicensed bike in sight, he
said.
Many of the bikes are called in by people who have observed the
bike in the same place for an extended period of time. And if a bike
is stripped or looks like it's been stolen and dumped, officers will
recover it.
"We might observe it in an unusual spot, like if we see one at 11
at night on the pier and nobody's there or lying on the beach at 10
at night or in the bushes, or if we see one lying in a creek bed,"
Shulman said.
Sometimes, people simply ride bikes to bars on the beach, have a
few too many drinks and forget where they parked, Property Officer
Brad Aubuchon said. They often give up and figure they won't recover
the bike, he said.
And most of the time, the bikes aren't licensed. In the past two
months, he received only one call from person looking for a missing
bike with a license number, Aubuchon said.
That person got his bike right back, he said.
None of the bikes in racks along the boardwalk near 35th Street
Thursday afternoon had licenses on them. Brooke Henley, 13, and
Crystal Spaggins, 14, didn't even know they could get their bikes
licensed.
They always lock their bikes, so they don't get stolen, Brooke
said. But she said she didn't mind the police taking her bike if it
were abandoned.
"I like that because it means no one else can take it," she said.
Miguel Ortiz, who works at the Bike Doctor bike shop, said he
tells customers to get their bikes licensed.
"In this town, you need to register your bike," Ortiz said. "Bikes
get stolen right away. I tell people who buy new bikes to walk across
the street [to the fire station] and get a license."
Newport Beach bike licenses are available for $4 at fire and
police stations.
In Costa Mesa, police pick up abandoned bikes and try to find
their owners, Costa Mesa Police Sgt. Bob Ciszek said. If no one is
found in 90 days, the bikes go to auction.
Licenses in Costa Mesa are free and are available at the police
station at 99 Fair Drive on Sundays from 1 to 3 p.m. and at fire
stations on weekdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
* MARISA O'NEIL covers public safety and courts. She may be
reached at (949) 574-4268 or by e-mail at marisa.oneil@latimes.com.
