BIKEPGH MESSAGE BOARD ARCHIVE

Then there were a five or six cop cars and a fire truck at the other end of Junction Hollow--looked like they were looking for something at/in Panther Hollow Lake.

The perp is most certainly going down the jail trail

...unless they escape after a Four Mile Run.

i was in that parking lot this morning i rode from over by the casino to there and back there were quite a few vehicles there i used to park there but ill never park there again

http://triblive.com/news/adminpage/3284989-74/lake-search-chief

We were hiking down by Panther Hollow Lake today, saw 3 frat guy types screwing around down there, I guess now we know what they were up to.

How many more times does it take to realize that in order to stop the breakins of cars at the Eliza Furnace lot is to install security cameras!! Put signs all over, stating the lot has security cameras and anyone committing a crime will be caught, prosecuted, and sent to jail!! Security cameras with warning signs will put a total stop to car theft or any other crimes!!

Or just don't leave your valuables on your seats/in view...? I work downtown at a parking garage. I see it literally ever week. ipads,phones,laptop bags,cameras..

If you're into your stuff being stolen just leave the door unlocked or window down.Or if you like your windows being smashed, then ya know,there's that too.

A few weeks ago, there was a smash and grab at the frick park tennis courts parking lot.

I was pretty sure there wasn't anything valuable in my car when they smashed my windows. Turns out I was right, and they were wrong, but I got to replace the window anyway.

One should never leave anything of value in your vehicle. Keep it out of sight,(trunk,glove compartment, under the seat,etc,). The problem is people will still smash car windows just for kicks.That's why security cameras with posted signs need to be installed!!

Was speaking with someone who had his window smashed at the Eliza Furnace Lot. Nothing was stolen so merely hiding things from sight is no guarantee as someone will rummage around on the chance that something valuable will be hidden under the seat, in the glove box or in the trunk. It doesn't take very long to search those things.

Is Lenny being serious? A sign/camera will do little to prevent crime.

Why did cynical? It doesn't take much of a disincentive for it to be well worth it. Actually doesn't take any if it helps catch just on perp since we're most likely dealing with the same morons doing the same crap over and over. Crooks are amazingly dumb for the most part, esp. small time stuff.

I'm guessing Lenny was serious, and to be honest, I think there is some validity to it. It may not prevent crime, but even the signs may deter it, and if it's done properly, it can help with tracking down and prosecuting the perps. Witness the neck slashing incident last summer.

Yes crooks are dumb which is why if they see something they want a camera isn't going to stop them and a sign that says "you're being recorded" sure as hell isn't either. Its laughable to think that they will put a TOTAL stop to crime which he stated.

I think it might help, but it's not a cure-all, and neither is hiding things. The multiple-car smashing at my workplace a few months ago was just teenagers amusing themselves. Very little was stolen. And there were cameras, though no one looking at them at the time.

I wonder what it is about that lot that is making it more likely for windows to be broken there -- or are we just hearing about it now? Wintertime is not a time I'd expect vandals to be out breaking things. Is there something happening with the neighborhood?

In the past few weeks we've had multiple vehicle break-ins in the Phipps' employee lot, in the presence of a security guard, no less. One car was stolen and later recovered in Panther Hollow near the trailhead. Also break-ins in the playground lot near Panther Hollow bridge.

This wouldn't happen if people took their windows in with them

Both a sign and a camera will definitely cut down on car thefts!! I am quite serious! They helped catch someone who constantly was breaking into cars at the downtown garages.Without the camera(s) the person would not have been caught.

Cameras definitely seem to be in order, as well as serious prosecution by the police. This lot is isolated and has no neighborhood visibility. It cannot become perceived as a location where small crimes can go on with impunity, god forbid it escalates into some violence against a person. The police need to get whatever pieces of human garbage are doing this stupidity.

I wonder. Does the neighboring UPMC lot have issues? There are plenty of cars there to be broken into, do they suffer the way that the cars in the city lot do?

+1 edmonds59. This is a problem that either gets fixed or escalates, broken-windows-wise. Look at the vehicles parking there; there's money in those parking lots. The Swinburne Street trailhead offers a few different ways for a guy on foot to get away where a police car can't follow.

Cameras don't prevent crime, cameras document crime. Fences, locks, and watchmen move crime elsewhere.

In general, as the trails become more successful and the trailheads attract more cars, this pattern of trailhead crime becomes more likely - and in that sense, this is a bike advocacy issue not just a crime issue.

So there's short-term and long-term issues with infrastructure. Short-term, how do you get it? Long-term, how do you maintain it and how do you police it?

Neighborhood watch for the Swinburne St. trailhead?

@cpollack If you're into your stuff being stolen just leave the door unlocked or window down.Or if you like your windows being smashed, then ya know,there's that too.

Doesn't matter if your doors are locked or not, if thieves see something they want (or even just think there might be something), they will smash the windows.

There might be some that check the doors, but that is not the majority.

I will, as always, delve deeper and ask WHY this is happening. Actually apprehending a couple of people would help. Is it just for fun? Are they trying to get money for drugs? If somehow the upstream reasons can be addressed, that would make this less of an issue.

If you guys recall, a camera was used in the location before when the parking lotcar repair guy across the street was vandalizing cars at the trail head because he was POd from the loss of revenue

+ on solving problems at the root

cameras are like the cable locks of security. sure, they don't prevent problems by determined people, but they cause the people who aren't determined to walk away.

Are there any bike cops devoted to the trails?

FWIW, there's a thread on reddit/r/pittsburgh about a related string of incidents. Trailheads and parks.

"My girlfriend's car got hit yesterday afternoon. We were parked in a fairly public area in Schenley Park for only an hour. Lots of people around. Came back to a busted passenger window and all our stuff gone."

"I don't know if this pattern of break-ins is necessarily one person or connected people, but the same thing happened to at least three cars, including my boyfriend's, Saturday afternoon at the busy Eliza Furnace Trailhead parking lot at Second & Swinburne. We were out running for an hour and came back to find his bag & wallet gone."

"I noticed 3 piles of shattered tempered glass in the Millvale Riverfront Park parking lot yesterday, which in my experience is unusual for that lot. The placement and shape of the piles definitely indicated that they were from the driver's side window. No clue how long they'd been there, though."

"If you park at the bowling green take your valuables. My moms car got broken into right in front of the frick museum and the guard did nothing becuase it "wasn't his area". There was a tour bus full of people too. Apparently this happened again today to someone else and the guard said the same thing."

With a little effort on the part of the cops, it shouldn't be too hard to put an end to it.

On Sunday evening whilst riding home up into panther hollow I saw headlights coming towards me pretty quickly. There were also two small lights on the roof. I had to pull over as they were not slowing or moving to the side. I expected a friendlier treatment from a police van. I was tempted to play devil's advocate and call 911 to complain about vehicles driving through there on the trail but did not as I thought of this thread and figured a police presence in that area was not a bad thing.

One thing I noticed this morning is that there are no lights in the trailhead parking lot. Some of the light from the UPMC lot floods over, but it's a rather dark area.

The trail prior to Hot Metal is also unlit. Would be a great place to add a couple of overhead lights.

Lights don't matter, this thief is hitting people in broad daylight.

This happens all of the time at the Frick Park Environmental Center lot at the Clayton Loop trailhead. I live near there and walk my dog through that parking lot and there is always a ton of window glass we have to avoid.

Haven't been able to update since the forums have been down but my car and one other had windows smashed at the Swinburne Street lot on Monday the 21st, MLK Day. Because of the holiday there were only a few cars in the lot at all and the neighboring  UPMC lot was closed. The perpetrators may have gotten a few bucks in quarters out of my change pocket. They ignored everything else including clothes and two boxes of ammunition in the back. Coincidentally, perhaps, when I had parked at about 6 in the morning, Mr. Depasquale, the owner of the neighboring lot whom I had caught with my hidden camera vandalizing my car years ago, made a loop through the lot. This is not the first time I have seen him drive into the lot, make a loop and drive away, glaring at me the entire time. Why should Mr. Depasquale patrol a city lot when his own parking lot is right next door and he doesn't drive into that to check up on it? What does he hope to accomplish? What is he looking for? Is he still bitter that the city condemned a corner of his property and claimed it for it's own to build a free parking lot next to his own, which at his court hearing was apparently his defense for his acts of vandalism. I made sure to let the police know about that little piece of history.

Man I'm sorry to hear that Kordite. "Still crazy after all these years".

I would love it if this creep got caught in the act and some how, some way this started a chain of events where for financial reasons he had to sell the rest of his property down there, it got bought by the city, and then it got developed in a less ugly more bike-y way.

Half tempted to get a car, rig it with some hidden cameras, and park it down there in hopes of getting some evidence. Doesn't seem that there are cars being stolen, just vandalized.

To regulars who check this, if you use that lot, you could also park up Greenfield Ave along Saint Rosalia's Church. Might have to turn around somewhere on Greenfield Ave though to do it if you're coming from Second Ave. Then you could ride down the hill and be at the lot. Only downside is having to cycling back up the hill.

Only downside is having to cycling back up the hill. Is that a "bug"... or a "feature"?

I think you'd find parking within a much shorter distance on Saline street. That + it's flat. Not to say climbs are bad, just, I think that for many, a major reason to park at trail head rather than starting from wherever they'd start from naturally is to avoid a sustained climb like Greenfield.

My window was smashed last Monday on the 21st at the Eliza furnace trail. The thief smashed my window and stole my ipod from the glove compartment and ripped out the wires. They also stole my garmin GPS which was hidden on the floor of my car. I am out around 600 bucks. I had a $250 deductible for my geico car window insurance and a $250 deductible for my Allstate Homeowners insurance. It really stinks, I bike to work every day and it is annoying that I have to look for somewhere else to park. Where are the cops? Where are signs warning bikers not to park there? I'm sorry - I'm just angry and I feel violated. It stinks coming back to your car after biking and find shattered glass and snow all over your car!

This is pretty sad. I'm wonder if we can get a list of everyone who's had their window smashed and bring it to a news station or something to get some public pressure on the police department about this. I understand that it's not a particularly high profile case to solve, but if you total up the value of all the losses, it becomes a much bigger deal. Actually, hell, I'll start it and see if we get any momentum. Please forward this to anyone else you know that might have been a victim as well. Give me all the details you have (time, date, location of the event), name, a way to contact you, and a police report number with which zone the report was filed at. Email to: stopthesmashing@racepa.com

Oh. Also, please indicate if you would like or not like to be contacted by the media in the event we do get something rolling.

thanks! I sent you the info -I'd be happy to talk to the media.