Let's say a couple East Lansing children ride their bikes onto MSU's campus to get some ice cream from the Dairy Store. They lock the bikes on the rack outside and walk in to enjoy the snack. When they come out, they find their locks cut and bikes gone.
But is wasn't criminals who took the kid's bikes, it was the police.
This is one unjust example of how the MSU Department of Police and Public Safety treats bicycles on campus.
MSU police need to amend their policies toward the confiscation of bikes so people don't needlessly have their bikes taken.
Some students recently began protesting against the policies used by MSU police. And it's about time.
MSU police require all bikes on campus be registered with them or face impoundment. Bikes that are registered but not locked up, or ones that appear too rusty, even if they are registered, also will be removed. Bikes that create eyesores by being rusty or visibly broken should be confiscated. But bikes that are locked up with the proper registration should not be tampered with.
That wasn't the case for Angela Janicus and Daniel Sturm, a couple whose bike locks were cut and bikes taken, despite being registered. When they received their bikes back, one bike's frame was bent and the other's brakes no longer work.
When bikes are illegally taken, many times the lock is cut. While some owners go to the MSU police building and get the fee for impoundment waived, that $8 probably won't cover the $35 lock that was on the bad end of a pair of bolt cutters.
MSU Police need to start being more considerate of other people's property and be sure the bike is illegally parked before cutting off a lock.
But getting a lock ruined and not having to pay $8 for to get a bike that might have cost at an upward of $500 is the least of an MSU student's worries. Impounded bikes are eventually auctioned off at the MSU Surplus Store. Kris Jolley, marketing and sales coordinator for the store, says the average bike sells for about $25.
With between 500 and 700 bikes auctioned off in 2001, MSU police made around $6,000.
That's pretty good money for a bunch of stolen bikes.
Most of that money was used to pay MSU police student employees, and the rest of it offsets other costs involved in the process, MSU police Deputy Chief Mike Rice said.
If a bike is in danger of being removed, MSU police are supposed to apply orange tags to it to warn bike owners. This is a good step, but sometimes leaving a tag on a bike for only 24 hours is too short a time.
Maybe a couple of weeks, even a month, would be better for students who go on vacation during the summer. But if a student is away from campus for too long, his or her bike should be locked up indoors.
Since bike impoundment is done by student employees, their actions are not subject to review by the MSU Police and Public Safety Oversight Committee.
MSU police should consider making student employees answer to the committee to prevent further controversy.
MSU police needs to not only rethink its bike policy on campus, but they also should adhere to existing policies and not take bikes that are legally registered.
Until that happens, MSU police employees are nothing more than thieves with badges.
