Wow - that's quite a story! The 14 y.o. girl has some extra guts!
2011-09-11 04:30:01
8
hardcore bike recovery
not exactly a picture of people you'd normally expect to be chasing down a bike thief. hopefully they got the right guy.
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11252/1173309-53-0.stm
2011-09-11 01:46:18
You know I don't like to rip on the Police, they put up with a lot of crap in their jobs and they are defending the general public from harm but come on guys and gals:
"Thursday morning, Ms. Groebel sat in municipal court flanked by Mr. Ralston, who took a half day off, and Micah-Shai. They waited for more than two hours; no police officer who worked the case showed up to offer testimony."
2011-09-11 14:24:53
I have a bunch of weird feelings here:
1) The guy the police brought in does not match the description of two witnesses, but is a known thief.
2) "No police officer who worked the case showed up to offer testimony" while a key witness gave up a half a day's pay in order to continue helping. -1
3) I wonder how many people are going to look at Inge Groebel as a white woman. She's not white, she's German. I don't buy into the white-black thing (granted, not a key factor in this story). What she is, though, is happy because of a bunch of Pittsburghers who came running to help her.
So, what I make of this is:
* We have a known bike thief in the Point Breeze area who may or may not have been caught. +1? -1?
* We have people moving into the area who are deciding to use bicycles a lot. +1
* We have relative newbies to the area who don't lock their bikes up very well. -1
2011-09-11 14:59:00
The police not showing up? Our tax dollars at work.
We really, REALLY need civilian review board with some teeth. Most officers are good cops, but they carry too much dead wood.
2011-09-11 20:42:20
while the cops showed up quickly to the actual crime (awesome), them not showing up in court is another thing. I'd look to their contracts or super, my gut wants me to believe they're either not adequately compensated or not adequately encouraged to show up for "little" crimes like this. My gut is very unscientific, so I'm not sure I'm adding anything to the discussion.
a guy guilty of more than 30 offences? really? the fact that he hasn't graduated to (or been convicted of) something serious enough to be in jail (and also hasn't found a less criminal path in life) indicates to me that society has taught him something unintentional.
I wonder where they bought their bikes... Bike stores want to sell locks, so maybe there's an opportunity for, say, BPGH to partner with area bike stores to somehow reach/teach people when they're buying their new bikes to lock it up right?
+1,000,000 for neighbors showing up. THAT is awesome. EVERY neighborhood needs that, otherwise it's just a bunch of houses and people.
2011-09-12 12:24:09
that was a very heart-warming story to say the least.
2011-09-12 14:29:21
2011-09-15 13:30:21