What happens when an insufferable coalition of bicyclists also becomes insufferably BLMized? You get the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition which has the urgent mission of forcing everyone to ride bikes only to have them stolen and for the police not to get involved.

It started six years ago when the Bicycle Coalition, like every leftist organization, got BLMized and Executive Director Brian Wiedenmeier denounced the presence of ‘white supremacy’ in the ummm San Francisco bike movement.

“Our board of directors took a first step in responding to Black voices in our community calling for change by voting unanimously on June 23 to remove measures related to the San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) from our 2018-2022 strategic plan. We were wrong to rely on SFPD to address bicycle theft and traffic safety, and we caused harm to Black San Franciscans by ignoring the violent and too often deadly impact policing has on them. I take responsibility for their inclusion in part because of the pressure I felt from our members to appear “tough” on bicycle theft and traffic enforcement. In the weeks and months ahead, our staff and board will be exploring alternatives to addressing both problems,” he argued, while clueless about his racial implication that black people were the ones stealing bikes.

Six years later, no such alternatives have emerged.

The page on stolen bikes spends a lot of time warning people not to call the police to try and recover their stolen bikes.

If you find your bike.

First, make sure that this is actually your bike before you do anything. Is the serial number the same? Are there unique identifiable characteristics? Also, remember that the person currently in possession of your bike might not be the person who stole it. We strongly urge everyone to consider the potential impact of calling the police on this person’s life.

Do you plan to file an insurance claim?

If so, your insurance plan will require a police report to support your claim. Our recommendations generally avoid involving the police whenever possible to minimize harm to Black and brown people. Since a police report is necessary for insurance claims, we recommend avoiding in-person contact by filing your police report online.

Bike Theft and Policing:

Black and brown people are often deeply harmed or even killed by interactions with the police, and the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition decided in 2020 to end any formal relationship with SFPD. Because policing is interwoven into nearly all current solutions to bike theft, some of our recommendations do involve minimal contact with the police, but we identify those and try to propose alternatives. We encourage everyone to consider the potential impact to human life of involving the police in any situation.

The bike coalition attached a graphic urging people to consider the possibility that it’s just an inconvenience, to bring along their friends instead of calling the police and to engage in ‘mediation’.

Somehow the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition even manages to make that argument after car collisions.

UPDATE: June 2021
This page is currently under construction. Black and brown people are often deeply harmed or even killed by interactions with the police, and the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition decided in 2020 to end any formal relationship with SFPD. We encourage everyone to consider the potential impact to human life of involving the police in any situation. Updated recommendations to come soon.

So far no updates. Lots of bikes have been stolen though.