Security cameras captured a brazen bicycle theft early Thursday morning outside the new Barry’s gym in the center of West Hollywood. The footage was posted Friday on Nextdoor by WeHo resident Alex Silverman, the bike’s owner.
“This man used what appears to be an angle grinder to saw through the lock and steal my bike in front of Barry’s on Santa Monica Boulevard at 7:30 in the morning while traffic passed right by,” Silverman wrote. “If anyone spots him or the bike, please call LASD WeHo station!”
Readers were shocked by the nerve of the thief.
“I own a bike and I’m reluctant to even take it outside,” wrote Zen Tao. “Society has gotten so bad that you can’t even own property anymore.”
“Crazy bold, was it a Kryptonite lock?” asked Adrian M. of Los Angeles. “I try not to leave my locked bike out of sight too long and use 2 motion siren alarms to attract attention. So far I’ve only had a flashlight removed in Beverly Hills at night. Also put a Tile or Airtag somewhere to have a chance at finding it.”
“It’s a cordless cutter / grinder,” responded Drew Cobb of Wrightwood Estates. “There is no lock or chain that can’t be cut with one of these and they’re $150.”
“Where were the ‘ambassadors’?” asked Tri-West resident RD Lopez. “These are the consequences of replacing officer from the LASD for unarmed, untrained ambassadors.”
Preventing a thief from using an angle grinder to break a bike lock is challenging due to the power and efficiency of such tools. However, there are several strategies that can increase the security of your bike:
- Invest in high-quality U-locks or chain locks that are made from hardened steel and are known for their resistance to cutting and grinding. Brands like Kryptonite and Abus offer locks that are specifically designed to withstand severe attacks.
- Use multiple locks of different types (e.g., a U-lock and a chain lock). This not only makes the theft process longer and more complicated but may also deter thieves looking for a quick steal.
- How and where you lock your bike can significantly impact its security. Lock your bike to a sturdy, immovable object. Ensure both the frame and the wheels are secured. Make the lock as difficult to access as possible; keep it off the ground and position it in a way that makes it hard for a thief to use tools effectively.
- Lock your bike in well-lit, highly visible areas where many people are present. Thieves are less likely to use loud tools like angle grinders where they can easily be seen and heard.
- Some bike locks come with built-in alarms that go off when they detect tampering. These can startle a thief and draw attention, potentially scaring them off before they can break
- Equip your bike with a GPS tracker. While this won’t prevent theft, it can help you recover your bike if it gets stolen. Make sure the tracker is hidden so it can’t be easily found and disabled.
- Register your bike with local and national databases with your bike’s serial number. If your bike is stolen, having it registered can help law enforcement identify and return it to you if recovered.
- Consider getting insurance for your bike, especially if it is expensive. Some home insurance policies might cover bikes, but make sure to check if they cover thefts outside the home as well.
While no method is foolproof, combining these strategies can significantly reduce the risk of having your bike stolen by a thief using an angle grinder or other tools.
I recently had my electric cargo bike stolen by someone at around 11:30 AM a few yards away from people eating at a sidewalk cafe. It was secured with a Kryptonite U-lock and then immediately sold to some construction workers on luch break for $300. I got it back because of an airtag I had hidden somewhere that’s inaccessible without an uncommon tool. The only lock that’s even remotely secure against angle grinders is the Hiplock D1000 – its costly and heavy, but it makes the weak point of any locking scenario the bike rack itself.
Hooray for Danny Rivas! He’s doing a great job! Can we have Kristin Cook back, please?
Whoa, one commenter on here is advocating West Hollywood residents should take the law into their own hands.I think someone needs to rethink this as such attitudes and actions will just make things worse.
OK, I understand residents are tired of the lawlessness,but violence to stop wrongdoing is not going to stop the determined criminal.A misunderstanding or interpretation of a action could lead to a innocent person being injured or killed.
Yet the idiot videoing this didn’t think to call the Sheriff?
The irony throwing out the word “idiot” when you can’t discern this is a recording of security footage shown to the victim…
This wasn’t the security footage that was shown to the victim this was a self recorded video you can literally see the person moving the camera. That same person recording could have stopped dialed the Sherrifs.
Well maybe the brazen bicycle thief will see this story online featuring his “socially unacceptable behavior” and will be overcome with remorse to the point of seeking professional help. The meaningful change in his life results in his returning the bike to the rightful owner and, issuing a public apology. Then this is sure to be covered in a follow up story, right❓
We know you apologize for criminals and want to defund the police. If society is soft on crime you get more of it. You think being nice to criminals will lower crime.
YES I want to defund law enforcement 🐷 because they get way too much money that could be better spent making people into much better human beings. No society is NOT soft on crime, people are raped & tortured in American prisons & jails making them even worse criminals. In Norway they are nice to criminals and manage to rehabilitate them completely ❗
Norway’s society lacks the diversity we have. Not a good comparison.
NOT true for the past 35 years, click the red hyperlink in my prior comment and watch the video.
Crazy that we live in a city that wants protected bike lines but can’t protect the bikes to ride in them. Another public policy failure of not focusing on the nuts and bolts of sound municipal governance. Meanwhile, Chelsea Byers is advocating for veganisn by legislative fiat, John Erickson is advocating for himself (New York, Paris, London, Munich) and Sepi Shyne has checked out and should resign post haste.
And crazy that you vocally support someone who wasted time and energy giving Stormy Daniels a symbolic key to the city when he was on the council. Yawn. You have no credibility here.
Yes, by all means, let’s keep our minds so small and closed that we reduce every human being to one action and cancel them permanently. Do you ever tire of being perfect? Does being the self-appointed conscience of a community ever exhaust you? Do your attempts at being the spokesperson for the monolithic thoughts of a group you often refer to as “everyone” weigh you down? I’ll gauge my credibility by the real-world interactions I have with thinkers of the world. Thanks for the summary judgment, nonetheless.
That council person, John Duran, made some really bad judgements, mostly to do with his personal life, and the Stormy decision was just stupid and embarrassing, but WeHo was mostly very well-served by him. If you want to do a side-by-side comparison of him and your buddy John Erickson as to sound leadership of this city your John would come up very, very short. Your comment invited that comparison.
omg
Old. fashioned methods of corporal punishment will deter thieves – can’t use the angle grinder minus a hand (or two, depending on recidivist persistence). Cheaper too – no jail time, just public removal of the offending appendage.
I’m at the point of carrying a taser because of these f*cking people in our community. Ambassadors are useless. Police never come unless someone is injured. Time to take matters into our own hands.