Steal MY bike. Please.

Walking through the DelSo, I saw some bicycles standing at attention on the front porch of a duplex. My first thought was "I hope those don't get stolen." We are acutely familiar with the incidence of bike theft in Albany - it is epidemic. Our family has had 4 bicycles stolen through the years, one of which was recovered. Never seen again were my wedding-shower-gift green Giant, it's replacement the cherry red Giant and Liam's red Jamis. Both of my bikes were locked with Kryptonite locks - Liam simply left his on our porch and someone saw an opportunity. I'd have to say that stealing a child's bike is solidly in my top 10 of scummiest things to do.

An analogy: child bike theft is to larceny
as
pedophile is to sex offender.

I mean, yuck. Truly. I sometimes wonder if in the old days there might have been a code of ethics among thieves that didn't permit this type of trespass. If children's toys were somehow considered to be off limits to common thieves back in the day. Is this a sign of the times we live in? Maybe it is an indication of the more general deterioration of our society? Beyond newer, stronger locks, how can we combat this? Perhaps making connections in our neighborhoods and looking people in the eye as we walk past each other will help? Or maybe our virtual friends on Twitter are the answer?

All I know is, if anyone needs to steal a bike, please consider taking my 14 y/o Trek. It has been a great bike, but it gets pretty heavy when I have to carry it up the stairs after I ride it, and I wouldn't mind replacing it with something a little lighter. And leave the kids' bikes alone.