Dirt bikes are back, spring is here

Bratton waving of the flag and then inspecting the crushed bikes was as good as NYPD theater gets.

...I suspect the Department of Sanitation actually drove the bulldozers and had a hard time keeping a straight face.

I would have enjoyed watching this for much longer. The dozers could have flattened them even more then poured asphalt over the pile.

A few of the media accounts stated they only crushed 70 vehicles.

...above, they promised us 500.

"Police Commissioner Bill Bratton said Sunday some 500 two-wheeled motorcycles, dirt bikes and four-wheeled ATVs seized by the police this year will be publicly destroyed sometime in the next week."

The other 430 probably went home with police officers.

The Post is stating 679 vehicles have been confiscated so far this year, and 69 dirt bikes and 8 ATVs were crushed yesterday.

https://nypost.com/2016/05/17/nypd-crushes-illegal-dirt-bikes-as-a-message-to-knuckleheads/

So, that would leave 602 (679 - 69 - 8) for police officers or future crushing sessions.

I hope they are not looking at these bikes as a
 revenue source through sales again.

In the past, I believe they had no other way to dispose of them other than auction them, and then only recently got the authority to crush them.

...several municipalities face similar rules.

Atlanta faces a similar rule regarding guns it confiscates.   http://politics.blog.ajc.com/2015/11/07/atlanta-sits-on-6000-confiscated-guns-and-wont-sell-them/

It seems the NYPD is becoming a little more clever in providing content for "journalists".

In additional to staging a dirt bike crushing, they now film themselves making drug busts and write up stories on NYPD news, which (lazy?   underpaid?   Time conscious?) "journalists" can utilize and the public can spread throughout the web:

http://nypdnews.com/2016/05/ten-arrested-in-staten-island-gang-takedown-indictments-charge-heroin-trafficking-and-shooting-two-firearms-seized-video/

Dirt biker on Staten Island hits pickup truck while being followed by police:

http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2016/05/27/staten-island-dirt-bike-crash/

Not "chased"?

"one of the suspects was left fighting for his life."

oh that's just sad.

/s

How do you instruct a policeman to overlook a speeder running a stop sign?

About 40 ATV riders and dirt bikers just rolled past on NY Ave (near Sterling). My kid freaked out. 6:07pm.

Some Stupid jerk on a blue motorcycle was riding fast inside Brower Park this morn. Then he came too close to ladies walking their dogs and the dogs barked and reared up. He crashed in a big puddle or mud and water. I cheered.

 

The good part of the situation is that motorcyclists offer a big source of organs for people needing transplants. Hence the term: donorcycles.

Some cops were injured trying to capture some dirt bikes and ATVs.

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-crime/cops-injured-biker-crew-brooklyn-bridge-article-1.2796489

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-crime/nypd-battles-growing-plague-dirt-bikes-atvs-city-streets-article-1.2800164

Walked past an unlicensed Motorcycle parked on Nostrand Avenue at Bergen today. That seems like a good place to start, confiscate the parked bikes that are unlicensed!

I saw a small pack today on Rogers, near Empire. about 8 dirt bikes and 2 ATVS.

They were making the rounds of Dean Street and Nostrand last week. They might have a regular route with pit stops and cheering GF.

I do wonder what the rates are this summer to be a part of a MOB. However, even if I came up with cash (weed?), I am not sure I would be welcome.

If you can wheelie you and swerve in traffic you are welcome to enlarge the pack and provide a decoy for the leader.

I'm not sure how the police would react if they saw me.

I was lounging on the meadow in Prospect Park yesterday afternoon when I heard some revving. Two dirt bikes came flying along the east road, traveling north towards Grand Army Plaza, with a cop (Parks Police, I believe) gaining on them. This was among all the bicycles, skateboards, runners and walkers (!!) I know that the police aren't supposed to chase, but maybe they made an exception because it was on a road that wasn't even open to traffic at the time? After that, NYPD had vehicles patrolling on the road every minute or two..

If you are a teenager, being chased by a less nimble city/NYPD vehicle may make it more fun and encourage others to join you.

ah but the chase is recorded on many cameras around now os he can be identified around town and so the teen my find his bike storage system eventually compromised.

those bikes might be the 2 from Park Place I saw pull out the same day.

The bikers seemed to be out in full force yesterday. I witnessed about 5 of them circling the Rogers and Eastern Parkway intersection at about 6pm, as they waited for a cop car to catch up, coming up Rogers. Then they split up, to proceed to ride down the Eastern Parkway Malls (on the sidewalk) doing wheelies and weaving in and out of pedestrians and baby strollers on a busy 4th of July evening. Had to jump out of the way with my dog. Ugh...

Have they been quite this brazen in the past? Going through the park and on sidewalks is another level beyond just weaving through heavy traffic on Flatbush...

They definitely seemed to be taunting the police, like it's a game... laughing and knowing they can outrun cop cars. Perhaps the escalation of riding in the park and on sidewalks is a resulting reaction to last year's efforts by NYC to make a public display out of crushing the confiscated bikes? But that's just my own speculation.

The only thing that is ever going to change this is if a kid gets run over by one of those dirt bikers. Or a beloved elder. Then the electeds will get all in a huff and call for roundups of the bikes.