Paradise Creek Bicycles in Moscow has taken steps to help people recover their stolen bikes. Photo by Jazmin Alatorre
By Jazmin Alatorre — JAMM Multicultural Journalism Camp
Bicycle theft in Moscow has been an ongoing issue over the years, and Tjay Clevenger, owner of Paradise Creek Bicycles, has been making an effort to help the community recover their stolen property.
Clevenger said that when a customer purchases a bike, we take a picture of the bike owner and their bike and a bar code is placed on the bike and registered into their computer, in case it’s ever stolen.
When someone comes in to report a stolen bike a picture of the owner and his bike are immediately posted on Paradise Creek Bicycles Facebook page.
“The sooner we get the word out, the easier it is to recover it[bike],” said Clevenger.
Russ Wheelhouse, a Moscow resident and victim of bike theft, said often times, it’s an opportunist theft.
Wheelhouse said he believes that bike thefts mostly happen when drunk students are trying to find a way home after they leave the bars and see it convenient to take a bike.
Police officials said when they find an abandoned bike, they check stolen records and have an individual to check barcodes on bikes.
“It’s always been a constant issue, it’s never really spiked,” said police officials.
The police suggest that the best way for things to not get stolen is to pay attention to your belongings and report theft the minute it happens.
“My bike was stolen on a Sunday morning when I was eating breakfast, and when I was finished, my bike was gone,” Wheelhouse said. “I did report it to the police, but they never got back to me.”
Wheelhouse said that he takes some precautions to prevent bike theft; for one, now he does not own a brand-new bike. “I ride really crappy bikes,” he said.
If a bike has been purchased at Paradise Creek Bicycles and has been stolen, Clevenger said to report your incident to the store, and they will do their best to try and recover the stolen bike.
