NORFOLK Police Chief Bruce Marquis on Monday ordered officers to stop seizing unregistered bicycles after a NewsChannel 3 investigation showed officers enforced the little-known law almost exclusively in low-income neighborhoods.
"I've ordered a moratorium on the seizures of bikes," Marquis said.
Marquis also said he will ask City Hall to make bicycle registration voluntary, not mandatory.
The NewsChannel 3 investigation that aired last month showed a 300-percent jump in bike seizures in the past three years, largely around MacArthur Center and in the city's poorest neighborhoods. Conversely, police records showed it was rare for officers to seize bicycles in middle- or upper-income areas. Police records show officers have impounded more than 170 unregistered bicycles since 2006, mainly from poor neighborhoods like Park Place, Huntersville and city housing projects. City and census records show less than one percent of bicycles in Norfolk are registered.
The city netted about $23,000 selling bicycles at auction in those three years, according to records. That includes bicycles that were seized or abandoned.
Several bicycling groups including the Tidewater Bicycle Association and the Washington-based League of American Cyclists had contacted city officials after NewsChannel 3's story.
"We oppose programs that operate as a disincentive to bicycling," wrote the League of American Cyclists. "Such programs that serve as a pretext for stopping cyclists are an impediment to increasing rates of cycling, and unfairly target citizens based solely on their means of travel. The League urges Norfolk to rethink their bike registration policy and its intent ."
Washington scrapped its mandatory registration program last summer over concerns that officers applied the rules unfairly.
"Current (police) practices allow for selective enforcement and pretextual stops," according to a 2005 report from the Metropolitan Police Departments' Police Complaints Board, "and therefore invite perceptions of biased policing ... and raises the spectre of racial profiling...."
Tidewater Bicycle Association members cited the Washington report to Norfolk city leaders after NewsChannel 3's story. Marquis said he was familiar with the report.
"When they go to the low-income people and they're questioning and stopping them, it seems to me it's a gateway to do something else," said Steve Zeligman, president of the TBA.
Marquis said he ordered the crackdown more than two years ago because a boom in crime was traced to thieves on bicycles. He said the effort was designed to target adults on bicycles pedaling in high-crime neighborhoods at night.
"I ordered a crackdown on this with our officers, meaning we advised our officers that they could seize bicycles, or should go out and seize bicycles, late at night, from adults, where the bicycles aren't registered, if we suspect the person could be involved in a criminal enterprise," Marquis said.
However several people contacted by NewsChannel 3 said police either gave them tickets or took their bicycles in the middle of the day. Others, like James Davidson of South Norfolk, had his bike taken at night, but was charged with no other crime.
"They just pulled me over for no reason," Davidson told NewsChannel 3 last month. "They told me that since I didn't have a license for the bike, they got to take it."
After NewsChannel 3's report Marquis conceded it could appear that officers are targeting certain neighborhoods or people
"No one wants to see citizens treated unfairly," the chief said. "And if there is a perception that, by the police department seizing bicycles that we are treating citizens unfairly, or in a biased manner, then I think changes will be taken seriously."
Marquis will also recommend to City Manager Regina Williams and to City Council that registrations be dispensed at city buildings, like libraries and community centers, instead of only at police precincts.
NewsChannel 3 and the Norfolk Police Department are teaming up to keep your bicycles safe. Join us Friday, April 17, from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. at the Southside Boys and Girls Club, Diggstown, 1401 Melon St.
Norfolk Police Officers will be there to register your bicycle. It's free, and it could help police get your bike back to you if it's stolen. Norfolk officers will also hand out free helmets to children who don't have them.
"I've ordered a moratorium on the seizures of bikes," Marquis said.
Marquis also said he will ask City Hall to make bicycle registration voluntary, not mandatory.
The NewsChannel 3 investigation that aired last month showed a 300-percent jump in bike seizures in the past three years, largely around MacArthur Center and in the city's poorest neighborhoods. Conversely, police records showed it was rare for officers to seize bicycles in middle- or upper-income areas. Police records show officers have impounded more than 170 unregistered bicycles since 2006, mainly from poor neighborhoods like Park Place, Huntersville and city housing projects. City and census records show less than one percent of bicycles in Norfolk are registered.
The city netted about $23,000 selling bicycles at auction in those three years, according to records. That includes bicycles that were seized or abandoned.
Several bicycling groups including the Tidewater Bicycle Association and the Washington-based League of American Cyclists had contacted city officials after NewsChannel 3's story.
"We oppose programs that operate as a disincentive to bicycling," wrote the League of American Cyclists. "Such programs that serve as a pretext for stopping cyclists are an impediment to increasing rates of cycling, and unfairly target citizens based solely on their means of travel. The League urges Norfolk to rethink their bike registration policy and its intent ."
Washington scrapped its mandatory registration program last summer over concerns that officers applied the rules unfairly.
"Current (police) practices allow for selective enforcement and pretextual stops," according to a 2005 report from the Metropolitan Police Departments' Police Complaints Board, "and therefore invite perceptions of biased policing ... and raises the spectre of racial profiling...."
Tidewater Bicycle Association members cited the Washington report to Norfolk city leaders after NewsChannel 3's story. Marquis said he was familiar with the report.
"When they go to the low-income people and they're questioning and stopping them, it seems to me it's a gateway to do something else," said Steve Zeligman, president of the TBA.
Marquis said he ordered the crackdown more than two years ago because a boom in crime was traced to thieves on bicycles. He said the effort was designed to target adults on bicycles pedaling in high-crime neighborhoods at night.
"I ordered a crackdown on this with our officers, meaning we advised our officers that they could seize bicycles, or should go out and seize bicycles, late at night, from adults, where the bicycles aren't registered, if we suspect the person could be involved in a criminal enterprise," Marquis said.
However several people contacted by NewsChannel 3 said police either gave them tickets or took their bicycles in the middle of the day. Others, like James Davidson of South Norfolk, had his bike taken at night, but was charged with no other crime.
"They just pulled me over for no reason," Davidson told NewsChannel 3 last month. "They told me that since I didn't have a license for the bike, they got to take it."
After NewsChannel 3's report Marquis conceded it could appear that officers are targeting certain neighborhoods or people
"No one wants to see citizens treated unfairly," the chief said. "And if there is a perception that, by the police department seizing bicycles that we are treating citizens unfairly, or in a biased manner, then I think changes will be taken seriously."
Marquis will also recommend to City Manager Regina Williams and to City Council that registrations be dispensed at city buildings, like libraries and community centers, instead of only at police precincts.
NewsChannel 3 and the Norfolk Police Department are teaming up to keep your bicycles safe. Join us Friday, April 17, from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. at the Southside Boys and Girls Club, Diggstown, 1401 Melon St.
Norfolk Police Officers will be there to register your bicycle. It's free, and it could help police get your bike back to you if it's stolen. Norfolk officers will also hand out free helmets to children who don't have them.
