Photo: ramblin'worker, Flickr Creative Commons
Toronto police seized another 1000 bikes yesterday in what is turning into the biggest stolen bike recovery in the country’s history. Only 55 have been picked up by their rightful owners so far, but I would imagine the photos in the paper of the giant pile of bikes are a bit daunting to many. As the bikes are cataloged and displayed, I’m sure many more will be recovered.
But many people interviewed in the papers this week claimed to have known that Igor Kenk was a thief and even visited his shop when their bikes were stolen, on the advice of bike shop staff or friends. This has obviously been going on for years, so why, if everyone knew about it, wasn’t Kenk investigated before? The fact that they are “just bikes” doesn’t really fly–for many people, they are their only modes of transportation and relatively speaking, just as valuable as a car.
Most of those bikes will never make it back to their owners, and there are thousands of people in the city out hundreds and thousands of dollars over Kenk’s bike theiving/hoarding. It’s disappointing that it has taken so long for this to be pursued in a full-scale matter by police.
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
It takes a long time for the police to build-up a case against someone and turn it into a sting operation. I think that’s why this took so long.
Hey Steve,
Totally agree and appreciate that it takes a long time to put together such an operation, but there are a few things that don’t add up to me. One is that when they do big busts, the police are typically more than a little excited to share the ‘how we did it’ with the media. We didn’t hear anything like that this time and it appears they caught Mr. Kenk in a routine bike-baiting operation. All of the busts have seem to come afterward, and they have even said they are waiting for more tips to come in as news of the raids spreads. Most of this seems to be reactionary, so that’s why I wondered.
However, as I write this, the CBC promises they are going to talk to the police about this very issue in a few minutes, so perhaps we’ll get an update!
The police know about a lot of crimes that they don’t do anything about. The less serious the crime the longer you have to wait for police to do anything. I think they just don’t have enough bodies to take care of all the difference criminals out there. Since people’s lives aren’t at danger with bike thefts their pretty low on the cop’s list of priorities.
I am happy the police made the bust. I went down looking for my bike to no avail. I was digusted that one person could collect so many bikes.
It has been common knowledge in Toronto what goes on in Igor’s “Clinic”. I must ask as well, why it took so long to make a move? The whole bust came about with a “Bait bike” placed in front of his store. Did it take 10 years to come up with that plan?? That plan could have been drawn up over lunch/coffee. I think this has just been a PR move by the police.
Is it just a coincidence that the bust came only days after all of the reports of bike thefts in Toronto hit the paper? The papers were flooded with articles on the 5000 reported stolen. To me this seems like a “token” bust. Give the people what they want. Kind of like Miller’s useless handgun ban, the naive voters love this kind of thing. it makes them feel safe and warm because old Davey boy is looking out for them.
As I mentioned in the begining, I am glad the bust was made. I am greatly impressed in the way the Toronto Police organized the wearhouses for viewing. I just think it should have been done much sooner. If it had, many bikes would still be in the hands of their rightful owner. The drugs would have been off the street sooner.