Police Find New Ways to Catch Bike Thieves

              In Denver, Colorado the Denver Police Department (DPD) is on to something big. The DPD has placed bikes all around the city that have special tracking equipment attached to them so police can track down and arrest bike criminals. The bikes that have been specifically created for this purpose are called bait bikes. “We try to mimic the types of bikes that are being stolen on the streets,” said Paul Pazen of the DPD. “This is another way to protect our citizens and their property.” The bait bikes are worth as much as seven thousand dollars due to all of the GPS tracking gear that they are equipped with. Each bait bike is unique so bike thieves cannot tell the difference between a civilians bike and a bait bike. The latest bike thief, George Vigil, has been charged with felony theft.

              I believe that these bait bikes are a great idea. I am the proud owner of a bike that I paid for with my own money. My constant fear, whenever I take my bike anywhere, is that it will get stolen (even with my bike lock attached to it). This new system gives me a feeling of safety and security because I know that the chances of my bike being stolen will be little to none. If this new bait bike system goes well, it could discourage criminals from wanting to steal any loose bike out of fear.

              The relates to what we were talking about in class in regards to privacy rights. We looked at a bunch of different Supreme Court cases regarding the right to privacy. It basically boiled down to if you had to do something that felt like an illegal invasion of someone's privacy, it probably was. Some people say that the use of GPS in order to locate somebody is an invasion of privacy. This is simply not true because your global position is public information. To say that GPS is an invasion of privacy would be like saying searching through people's trash is an invasion of privacy. Looking through people's trash is not an invasion of privacy because as soon as your stuff hits the garbage can, it's public. GPS simply can not be an intrusion against one's privacy because the world is a public place that does not belong to just one person.