By Jeannette Jaquish
Arizona Daily Wildcat
April 21, 1998

UAPD should respect

To the Editor:

Are the campus police out of their minds? Please tell me it's a misprint. I read in "Police Beat" on Apr. 10 that a 27-year-old man flagged down police to report that he had chase off someone trying to steal his bike. The thief had been in the process of separating the bike from its locked front wheel and had another front wheel ready to install in its place.

The 27-year-old man gave this extra front wheel to police and offers to identify the would-be thief. Police then notice another bike nearby with a missing front wheel and contact its owner. The police report says if the front wheel given to them by the 27-year-old man belongs to the other bike, he may be considered a suspect.

A suspect? Is this a campus police crime profile? Thief steals front wheel then flags down police and gives it to them? No wonder they think crime doesn't pay.

Obviously, the nearly-apprehended bike thief has a technique that all bike riders should be aware of (and the police should be warning us of): find two bikes, one with the front wheel locked and the other with the frame locked. Take the loose front wheel from the frame of the locked bike and use it to replace the locked front wheel of the other bike and ride away.

Lesson to us: lock front wheel and frame. Lesson to campus police: Think before accusing citizen crime fighters.

Jeannette Jaquish
Tucson resident