[AFU General] Stolen Bikes Released

[Erik 'Possum' Stewart]

Thanks Theresa,

You introduce a good point.  I also am unclear whether--and to what
extent--Igor is a scapegoat.  The police have certainly dealt with
Igor less-than-honestly in the past.  Some years back, the police
seized a bunch of bikes from Igor that they had "positive proof" had
been stolen.  My friend Cory Doctorow noticed that one of these
"positive proof" bikes was the one *he* had sold to Igor, which had
been Cory's grandfather's bike of many years.  Clearly it hadn't been
stolen--at least not in the last few decades!

Cory sent out a press release to various newspapers, and the police
sheepishly returned all the bikes, suggesting that their "positive
proof" was no proof at all.

Possum

On Mon, Jul 21, 2008 at 09:13:54AM -0400, Theresa McGee wrote: 
> re: igor, 14 division and more than meets the eye...  wow, and the
> anarchists are celebrating the valorous efforts of 14 > division!
> 
> anybody think there might be grounds for a corruption case against
> the po? or all y'all too busy villifying a lowly bike mechanic?
> folks in my family have gotten to know igor, he's shared his
> knowledge, skills, bike parts, with 'everybody who's nobody'... you
> may not know or trust the guy, but do you really feel that much more
> cozy with the local constabulary? just puttin it out there...
> 
> "Does anyone think it's a coincidence that Igor was busted less than
> a week after his "candid" comments about bike theft in Toronto
> appeared in The Sun newspaper? I've retrieved my "stolen bike" from
> his shop on two separate occasions. The first time, detectives at 14
> Divsion demanded that I pay $250 so they could "reimburse" Igor the
> value of the pawn. The second time the bike was stolen, I went
> directly to the shop, located the bike and called 52 Division and
> insisted that a uniformed officer help me retrieve the bike. When
> the officers arrived they assisted me (without cost) in retrieving
> the bike. Maybe the police grew weary of their longstanding
> relationship with Igor."
> 
> http://www.cbc.ca/canada/toronto/story/2008/07/17/bike-theft.html#socialcomments
> 
>> Date: Fri, 18 Jul 2008 22:41:32 -0400
>> From: info at anarchistu.org
>> Subject: [AnarchistU] Stolen Bikes Released
>> CC: announce at anarchistu.org
>> To: mcgee_theresa at hotmail.com
>>
>> hello all,
>>
>> hope no one minds this announcement, even though it hasn't directly
>> to do with afu (though many afuers have had their bikes stolen) --
>>
>> as many of you have no doubt heard (and are most likely rejoicing
>> at the news) Igor, the notorious bike thief of trinity bellwoods,
>> has been arrested, incidentally, just 3 days after this article was
>> printed:
>>
>> http://www.torontosun.com/News/TorontoAndGTA/2008/07/13/6142756-sun.html
>>
>> news of the 'sting' and subsequent arrest:
>>
>> http://www.torontosun.com/News/TorontoAndGTA/2008/07/17/6181516-sun.html
>>
>> Police Services are holding an Open House this weekend so that
>> anyone who's had a bike lifted can go and see if they can find it
>> again:
>>
>> http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20080718/bike_thef ts_080718/20080718
>>
>> Location: 9 Hanna Ave
>> http://maps.google.ca/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=9+Hanna+Ave&sll=43.647774,-79.414763&sspn=0.006785,0.013111&ie=UTF8&ll=43.638296,-79.419136&spn=0.006786,0.013111&z=16
>>
>> Time: between 10am saturday and 6pm sunday
>>
>> Police are asking that people bring ID and, if possible, pictures
>> of their bikes (unless they have serial numbers or receipts).
>>
>> hope you find your bike,
>>
>> X