More than a year ago, on Sept. 18, 1998, we reported that the cops wanted to register bicycles in an effort to thwart bicycle theft. The rationale, we presume, is that people who steal bicycles are less likely to take a bike with a registration sticker on it. The need seemed urgent at the time— and the City Commission dutifully passed a bicycle registration law, calling for all bicycles in the City to be registered within 90 days.
Of course, to no one's surprise, the City couldn't gear up within that time frame. But we're told that, now, 14 months later, the registration stickers have finally arrived and that they plan to launch the program in mid-December. Of course, City officials have yet to publicly announce the start of the program and the deadline for compliance— and to inform you that you may be subject to getting ticketed or arrested if you ride your bike without a registration sticker after that time. But we guess they'll eventually get around to that little detail.
Jim Malcolm, the City's bicycle/pedestrian coordinator, says he wants to launch the registration program at the annual Children's Day at Bayview Park on Dec. 11. And he said he will ask the City Commission to waive the $5 fee for anyone under 16 who registers their bicycle that day.
We haven't been provided the specifics of how the new law will work, so we— like you— have a lot of questions. Katha Sheehan asked many of those questions in her story last year. First of all, does anybody out there really believe that, if your registered bike gets stolen, the cops are going to spend time sending out a BOLO (be on the lookout) alert and aggressively try to recover your property? It is possible, however, if the thief were to abandon your bike in front of the police station, that somebody might check the sticker and give you a call. Maybe.
Has anybody asked Police Chief Buz Dillon if he thinks the law is enforceable? Because, like the noise ordinance, if Dillon doesn't think it's enforceable, that law ain't getting enforced, Bubba!
We doubt that this new law will result in the capture of very many bicycle thieves. And only time will tell if it will deter theft. But even if this law has that potential, we wonder if the City isn't overreacting to try to achieve this goal. We think that what this program will really do is just give the cops another excuse to harass otherwise law-abiding citizens. They will now be able to stop you just "to check your sticker." And, God forbid, if you should express the slightest degree of irritation or (gasp!) happen to mention how stupid you think this new law is, you could find yourself face down on the ground, handcuffed and hauled off to jail. And the judges, as usual, will side with the cops. Count on it.
Under this new law, every time you buy a bike, new or used, you will have to make a visit to the police station— with a bill of sale— to register it. Cops say they won't be too strict in enforcing this bill of sale requirement at first because most people don't save their bicycle purchase paperwork. That will, of course, allow those who have stolen bicyles to come in an register those bikes as their property.
Stores selling bikes can be fined if they don't post notices about the registration law. You can also get fined if you don't notify the cops when you take a bike "out of operation." We're not making this up.
What about Stock Island and Key Haven residents who might ride their bikes into the City. Are they subject to getting ticketed or arrested? Or how about visiting boaters with their little fold-up bikes? Will they get busted? Maybe the law can be amended to include fines for marina operators if they don't post notices to tell visiting boaters with bikes that they have to spend part of their vacation down at the police station registering their bikes before using them on City streets. And the same applies to tourists who drive down here with their bikes on the back of their cars. The City might want to fine hotels that don't post notices that visiting bikes have to be registered. Of course, to produce more revenue, visiting bicyclists could be charged more for their stickers.
What if you loan your registered bike to a friend and he gets stopped by the cops? Will he need a "permission" note from you to keep from getting arrested as a bike thief?
Once again, we have a classic example here of our City Commissioners' pass-another-law mentality. But we predict that they'll be taking some flack on this one. This one's a doozy.