Curious Case of the Stolen Bikes
I just got done at the library and was ready to give my presentation in the morning, I walk outside and its raining but I ride my bike anyways, after all I don’t live that far. I get back to my house and it’s almost midnight I put my bike up on my porch and didn’t even bother to lock it up, after all I would be awake again in six hours and what are the chances that someone would steal it. I wake up the next morning and step outside, it’s gone, I’m heart broken. I walk to my presentation.
When you Google “Stolen Bikes Springfield MO” you get a list of the following searches “Bike Theft Problem Rolls On In Springfield” OzarksFirst-KOLR, “Bike thief on the loose in Springfield”-KY3, “Stolen bike alert. Springfield, Mo”- Cycle Fourms: Motorcycle and…, “Caught on Camera: Bicycle stolen from front porch in Springfield”- KSPR. The list goes on. Bike theft is not big news by any means but the regularity of it in Springfield Missouri makes it prevalent enough to have stories on it.
If I was tasked with creating my own headlines for my stolen bike they would be the following: “Bicycles Stolen in Springfield Missouri, Learn the Hot Spots of Bike Thefts”, “Bike Stolen From Local Springfield Resident, Be Careful of What You Leave Out”. If I was giving a call to action it might be “Call 911 if Your Bike is Stolen, They are on It” or “Buy Locks for Your Bike, Theft Runs Wild in Springfield”
I learned that something like a stolen bike can make good stories for news media. They get the attention of you when you lose your bike and if that is something that happens frequently enough in an area, then they know that will keep drawing attention to a site or story, keeping it relevant. Stories like these are good to reuse from time to time in local media because it is something that is still a common problem.
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The End of My Bike Story: I call the police and file that it was stolen, they never found it.I call local pawn shops for weeks, they never had it. I get whispers and rumors about houses that have stolen bikes in the back. One day I go on a run to all of these houses to see if shes still out there, I never found it. One day, months later, My roommate calls be and says he sees a guy on what he think is my bike, he follows him, the whole time I’m on the phone with him. He says he’s sure it is my bike, he follows him longer but then pulls down a one way street, my friend cant follow in his car anymore. He says he looked to try and find him again but he couldn't, still no bike. Still looking.