Locks cut and bikes confiscated on Obama's motorcade route

[PamNY]

According to Gothamist (http://gothamist.com/2010/04/22/nypd_seen_confiscating_bikes_along.php), NYPD cut locks and confiscated bikes on Obama's motorcade route prior to his recent visit to New York City. As far as I know, Gothamist is reasonably reliable.

Bike Snob mentioned this, but I haven't seen any regular news coverage.

Gothamist quotes NYPD as saying signs were posted (http://gothamist.com/2010/04/25/owner_of_nypd-confiscated_bike_want.php) two days in advance.

I've seen plenty of cars towed because people ignored temporary "no parking" signs posted for movie shoots and such, but it never occurred to me that bikes would be included. I don't recall ever seeing a sign that mentioned bikes (though I could have missed it -- I don't have a car so I don't pay much attention). I also wonder, if the bikes might contain pipe bombs, whether it's safe to be tossing them in a truck like that. Yikes.

[bmccasland]

I used to work in a visitor's center that a certain VP's security detail liked to use - because it was in a high location that had a good long view of a state highway that the motorcade would use. We (at the Park) always knew when the VP would be visiting his family because the security detail would show up. Nothing quite like trying to look inconspicuous wearing dark blazers and dark glasses inside in the summer in the desert. They took their protection detail very seriously. They'd shut down our visitor's center if they could. I guess showing up early also meant a sniper couldn't.

[annielynn]

WOW, I have to say that I would have been angry if my bike with one of the ones thrown into the back of a truck with the lock cut off. I understand the reasoning why, but people still have to get to work. The bikes is the perfect way to do that.

[MartianDestiny]

If there was a sign with reasonable warning similar to those for cars I fail to see the issue.

Maybe it's because I'm used to that since the college does it all the time (not really for security reasons often, but sometimes). They'll post notices on the rack, maybe send out an email, and maybe send out notices in potentially affected buildings. After that, well, if you don't move it it's your loss. You can go pay the impound fee and get the bike back (if you can provide some proof of ownership).

No different than illegally parking a car or ignoring "no parking this day" signs.

Pretty sure they aren't too worried that the bikes that have been sitting there may have pipe bombs, but rather that they could be used to hide one or that it would be easy to add another bike to the clutter that was a bomb on the day of and it go unnoticed (really easy to notice if it's the only bike parked in a "no parking" rack all of a sudden!)

[PamNY]

Here's a slightly more coherent story (http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/04/23/bike-stolen-check-the-police-station/) from the NY Times (says there was no mention of bikes on the "No Parking" signage).

bmccasland, your story made me laugh. It's fun to see security people trying to act unobtrusive.