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Police seize nearly two dozen dirt bikes, scooters in Dorchester
By adamg on Thu, 06/04/2015 - 10:35pm
Seized bikes. Photo by BPD.
Boston Police report officers seized 22 motorcycles, dirt bikes and scooters and one ATV on Tuesday on Lincoln Street in Dorchester.
Police say they got a tip about several "improperly stored" dirt bikes in the rear of 23 Lincoln St. With help from Boston firefighters, ISD inspectors and state environmental police, officers secured 11 bikes there.
While on scene, officers observed an additional twelve motorcycles, scooters and an ATV being improperly stored in a neighboring yard and were able to impound those as well.
Earlier:
Cops call on jakes to help seize dirt bikes at Mission Main.
Police seize more scooters, this time in Dorchester.
Neighborhoods:
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Comments
Off the streets
Improper storage, how about busting the ones that are improperly driving on our streets.
Well
It's pretty hard to drive an impounded vehicle.
Other posters on UHub have
Other posters on UHub have hashed this out. BPD doesn't want to chase kids on dirt bikes w/ no helmets on, because inevitably, there will be a kid killed, and the community outcry will never be worth it. This is the easiest way. It stops young people when they're not endangering themselves and others.
"the community outcry will never be worth it"
Uh, shouldn't "dead kid" be a more pressing concern than "people are upset that a kid died"?
Obviously. Did I have to
Obviously. Did I have to preface that?
I see these dirt bikes on
I see these dirt bikes on sidewalks and in the bike lane fairly frequently. It is kind of strange to see someone driving a motorized vehicle without license plate. They go pretty fast -- much faster than a bike. Also, it's not just kids who drive them.
"How about busting the ones that are improperly driving?"
Probably because BPD can't even deal with the cars, trucks, buses and bikes that break the law daily on our streets. Or don't care to.
Thanks BPD!
Keep 'em coming.
Stolen?
I think that's 3 recent seizures of dirt bikes, etc. Has anyone heard if any of them have turned out to be stolen?
possibly but hard to tell
Most likely candidates for stolen status are the motorcycles and scooters which are street legal and used by many regular folks. Hence easy to find/steal. The motorcycles can easily be checked via VINs but the smaller 50cc scooters are often harder to trace although it's gotten better with the newer registration requirements. I've got a scooter that classes as a motorcycle in MA and thus has plates & VIN and the 1st time I went to pick it up at the tow lot after it had been stolen it was leaning against a row of 40+ rusted out 50c scooters -- the lot operator said they had been there forever and were effectively impossible to trace or return without a VIN or plate to check.
The quads and dirtbikes are more interesting. Someone had to trailer them in from somewhere? Could be stolen or legit bought cheap off of craigslist in the burbs or NH or something. Since they are not exactly road legal here you gotta go out of your way to want to procure and operate one in the city. I could be totally wrong though -- maybe there is a motorcycle shop in the city that sells them with a wink and a nod along the lines of ".. you can only use these in your backyard you know ... wink wink " -- easy to bring in a container load of chinese dirtbikes if there is a market for them.
House Paint
On many scooters in Dorchester suggestion these are stolen.
Y'all are laughing now
Everyone thinks it's OK for them to just be going in these yards confiscating bikes until these kids are left with nothing to do this summer and they get back to shooting each other and the money y'all spent on a dirt bike task force took away from the force y'all are gonna be crying for when that happens then let's see y'all comments
Nope. We'uns are wondering where this came from
Since this is not something that anyone from within 300 miles of Boston would ever write, we'uns are wondering what part of Dixie it was posted from. Just so youse know...
Not from Dixie
Use of "Y'all" not entirely correct.
Yeah, don't get it twisted.
Around here, it's "youse guys".
Possessive should be somnething like....
... "y'all's".
"Youse guys" is also common in parts of the Chicago area. As in (said to us by a cousin), "Youse guys sure talk funny". ;-)
All y'all should know
that my use of "youse" was an attempt at ironic humor.
Since we're supposed to be laughing.
Um
Y'all is used widely in Boston by AAVE speakers. Also by many in the queer community who like it because it's gender-neutral.
But to the y'all-user's bigger point, WTF? The kids I know who ride these things around being idiots are not violent criminal types. They do stupid things as long as they know they're not likely to get caught, just like most of us did when we were teens and young adults. When you were a kid, would you suddenly have gone around committing violent acts if your dumb hobbies were curtailed? I didn't think so. These kids aren't going to do so either just because they're mostly Black and Hispanic.
Y'all is all you got out of that?
To the actual point, at least they won't be firing at each other from dirt bikes at high speed.
As I've said before
Riding the bikes though town recklessly IS trouble and illegal. The bikes aren't keeping them from doing bad things, the bikes are the bad things!
You make it sound like the kids have two options: Find a gun and shoot anything that moves or ride dirt bikes recklessly and illegally though the city. A majority of kids do neither.
Did it occur to you that perhaps the kids who are doing one illegal activity (dirt bike riding) might be the same kids predisposed to do other illegal activities? Might as well take away the illegal bikes and send a non-jail-time message that you can't just break the law because you want to.
Oh that makes sense...
With your logic, let's just let these kids off for everything below homicide and assault...you know, because if we don't allow them to commit robbery, burglary, shoplifting, harassment, etc they'll just have nothing to do and they'll go back to shooting each other.
Howdy y'all
Whatsa matter Tommy,
Did they also tow away that old Chevy Nova you had in your front yard up on cinder blocks? Was it parked too close to your trailer?
Y'all spent this y'all spent that <----you sound like a stand up taxpaying citizen.
Get back in your...oh sorry, I mean Y'all's, pick-em-up truck and pop open another Red White & Blue there, Bubba--oh I mean Tommy. This ridding of two-wheeled pieces of crap from our streets is more useful than any gun buy-back program. It'll all work out just fine.
Y'all come back now, ya hear?
Let let ride bicycles illegally instead
as they already do! On sidewalks, no lights at night, wrong way on streets, no stopping at stop signs or red lights etc. No helmets. Similar behaviors, just no motor.
Or they could sit at home and play Grand Theft Auto!
I guess we need a summer jobs program, if kids wanted to participate.
Vast improvement
Just compare the body counts.
And, no "I was looking at my phone and that horrible cyclist ALMOST KILLED ME" doesn't count.
But, please, tell us some more horror stories to tell us about your travails on the mean streets of Dorchester.
Please stop
Both of you. Can we please not hijack this thread to argue about bicycles?
Yes please
By all means, get to it as soon as possible. Just do it at home so you don't hit any innocent bystanders.
Russian roulette
Give it a try, it's way more fun, exciting and beneficial to overyone around you than shooting each other. Especially if you use a pistol instead of a revolver.
People on dirtbikes never get involved in shootings...
Dear BPD
Please find my stolen bicycle and those of my neighbors while you're at it. Thank you.
And while you're at it...
And while you're at it, I'd like a toilet made out of solid gold.
Me too.
But for reals--is there ANYWHERE to go to look for a stolen bike that wasn't super valuable, ie that was probably stolen and abandoned? Does the BPD have a garage full of found/confiscated bikes somewhere? Police auction?
Probably on HP Ave.
Probably on HP Ave. Ask the police.
BPD property warehouse
in Hyde Park. But you can't just go there and pick through the bikes, you have to be sent there, as I was, by the police station that recovered the bike and sent it to the property warehouse.
Yes BPD. Drop your so called
Yes BPD. Drop your so called "priorities" like shootings, community outreach, incredible transparency.. and find this man's bicycle.
I get priorities,,,
but as a life-long, tax-paying Bostonian woman, I also get quality of life issues. I have had several locked bikes stolen over the years, my house and car has been broken into and never once has the BPD shown even the slightest interest in solving these crimes or recovering my property. It's all just a matter of paperwork, if that.
One cop even advised me to move to the suburbs like he did. Yeah, that was really helpful!
Dirt bikes are hardly the problem around here
Thanks! Now they can terrorize us because you left them nothing else to do! Who were they hurting again? How about we do a raid on these Cops that park at people's house or establishments to chill while their on duty, that should help make the streets safer. Put them to work like they should be, maybe solve a few of these homicides or get some of these guns off the street which prove to be more dangerous than dirt bikes.
Sounds like someone had their dirt bike seized
n/t
I'm gonna pretend you are serious
I feel your concern troll and would like to answer your question about "what were they hurting"
And your neighbors and fellow citizens felt harmed enough that they repeatedly complained and asked the city to do something about it. And now the city is. You can also add in the fact that neighbors are actively reporting the illegal storage yards which is another huge sign that the neighborhood is significantly bothered by this. Not one of the seizures reported here has happened WITHOUT A TIP FROM A NEIGHBOR.
Please tell me again how the needs of these poor kids outweight the mass complaints and active cooperation of entire neighborhoods?
And finally -- the blunt truth is that this crackdown is ONLY happening because these morons shutdown an 'effing highway tunnel in a way that generated tons of negative attention and visibility. If that had not happened you can pretty much guarantee that the BPD would, in fact, be concentrating on other quality of life issues this summer.
The highway thing was a one
The highway thing was a one time thing. The bigger problem are the dirtbikes riding through parks on a daily basis, flying past little kids and others trying to enjoy one of the few places in the city where you shouldn't have to worry about noise pollution and the threat of getting hit by a motor vehicle.
Surely it would've been repeated.
Because summer, right? And YouTube. There have been so much obnoxious, wildly dangerous behavior on these bikes that the number of people jumping up to defend them is minuscule. If I were a fairly law-abiding rider of one of these bikes, I'd be pissed at the a--holes who managed to draw so much attention to themselves with their shitty stunt-riding that they brought on this crackdown. If there's a legitimate outlet for these kids to do their thing, then that's great but anyone saying that the nightly chaos on the streets, sidewalks and parks is the price we have to pay to keep kids from turning to gunplay (not that we haven't been seeing enough of that) then they'd better come up with a better plan.
You have a very low opinion of these chidren
If you think they will terrorize the citizens of this city because they can't come up with anything better to do.
There's this "mother knows
There's this "mother knows best" mentality from random people associated with urban youth. IE that these groups of people have absolutely no self control or personal responsibility. IE they will murder people if they don't have less illegal things to do and if they do murder people it's the fault of The System for not protecting them enough. It's almost if they can never do anything wrong because it's always someone else's fault because these nannies see them as feral animals.
The nanny police state isn't helping
The notion that one needs a babysitter until age 18 or parents are arrested is enveloping all sense, reason, and sense of responsibility in this country.
BTW, you perfectly described the Duggar family's response to their in-house pedophile. The Catholic School and Fundie Christian notion of there being no self-control, only other control doesn't improve the situation. And, yes CATHOLIC SCHOOL promotes this among boys with those abstinence-only bullshit presentations where girls are told that it is their job to not tempt boys because boys can't control themselves. Own it.
Yeah, 16 years of Catholic
Yeah, 16 years of Catholic education and I've had abstinence only education. Sorry pal
What Catholic school(s) and
What Catholic school(s) and when? You must watch a lot of movies.
12 years of catholic education and never experienced that.
We were always taught; "you are responsible for your own actions", the blame game was never acceptable, regardless of the situation.
These guys do the rounds of local Catholic schools
Their message is that boys cannot control themselves, and that girls are responsible for the way boys act - when they aren't lying about birth control.
A number of the others here also do presentations with similar themes to Catholic schools nationwide, including the Boston area: http://www.communityactionkit.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=Page.ViewPage&Pag...
This "guest speaker" and "assembly" thing is a fairly recent trend.
Urban youth?
Rapmastah Huckabee is in the house!
And then, there's the good ol' affluenza situation: http://www.theonion.com/article/wealthy-teen-nearl...
Dirt bikes are a problem around here
Hence citizens have been complaining about them, just like the complain about loud parties where college students live.
Perhaps if these asshats didn't go too far by pulling their shit on the expressway, they'd have their bikes to play/terrorize this summer.
Which youth programs do you work with?
Seriously - if you think these kids need better things to do, are you there to help?
Do these programs need funding? Would you like to share that information so people can raise or find money for them?
Stealing dirtbikes and riding them in dangerous ways isn't an appropriate way to "have something to do".
dirt bikes
Anyone that thinks this is an innocent hobby is wrong. Who were they hurting one commenter asks? Well on Halloween night while I was out walking with my 6 year old and his friend we had to jump out of the way when one rode up on the sidewalk in front of us and then did wheelies on a church lawn near us. Incredibly menacing. My other son and his little league team had to deal with someone doing wheelies again at the field behind the zoo (playstead). He is 10. I saw another one topple over in traffic before. If the car hit him who's fault would have it been since the bike was weaving in and out of traffic. Menacing, vandalism and putting others in danger. I am glad to see that the BPD is becoming more aggressive in their pursuit because it was becoming a huge problem and was going to start to become probably easier for drive by shootings, muggings, you name it.....
I play softball at the
I play softball at the Playstead area too, they're ALWAYS out there. It's loud, scary, and completely distracting. They know they're interrupting things and don't care.
Also, they drive all over the Franklin Park Golf Course. Which of course ruins the grass there - already hard enough to keep nice.
Guess my bike isn't legally stored
Funny thing is that my motorcycle (street legal & registered) is secured to a ground anchor that is just off of the back stairway of my house. From the sounds of these impounds it is not stored legally that way. Of course I don't think I'm going to have any problems but I had no idea that it wasn't ok to have it there.
I think it is the number of
I think it is the number of bikes stored at a private residence. So it essence, it was a unlicensed storage facility.
~~~~~~
Section 28.06 — Obstructions In Premises or Public or Private Ways
No person shall maintain an obstruction on any premises, public or private, including ways, private alleys, yards, and driveways adjacent thereto, which in the opinion of the Head of the Fire Department, would be hazardous to public safety prior to a fire or emergency {text removed}
Material in any form — solid, liquid, or gas — which is toxic or otherwise hazardous to persons, or such material which is or may become flammable, combustible, explosive, or reactive and which could increase the intensity or spread of a fire, shall be considered an obstruction as an object itself or as the contents of a container. {text removed}
Any vehicle which has been left unattended or abandoned, or which has been deposited, parked, or placed to be used as a storage facility shall be considered an obstruction. Wherever the Head of the Fire Department determines that any material, vehicle,
or object is such an obstruction, he shall order the person responsible to remove it from the location at which it constitutes an obstruction with no more delay than the head of the Fire Department may specify in the interest of public safety. If a responsible person cannot be reached on whom to serve such an order, or if the responsible person fails to comply with the order after due notice, the Head of the Fire Department shall notify the Boston Police Department to take whatever immediate action may be necessary to obtain compliance with the order. http://www.cityofboston.gov/images_documents/preven_code_tcm3-4039.pdf
So what is and is not legal in Boston and Massachusetts?
Can someone point to the specific laws/regulations/ordinances that define what is legal and illegal to drive in Boston, with and without registration and license plate, and also the same regarding illegal/legal storage and repairs?
Also can motorized bikes of any form be used in the bike lanes?
50cc limit I think
For motorized scooters, mopeds, motorbikes, etc, to be in the bike lane.
Of course, that doesn't stop motorcycles from using but whatever.
Good!
I saw a kid riding a quad in Moakley Park. Where the heck in the city did someone get a quad/keep a quad? I hope that is one of the ones that is seized. The last thing I'd want to hear about is a dog spooked / run over /ran off into to traffic because of one of these things.
The answer to reducing juvenile crime this Summer
Midnight Motorcycle Basketball!
ATV
My niece and her husband are part of an ATV and snowmachine riding community up north. There has been a rash of thefts of 4-wheel ATVs of late. I'll let her know about this - it could belong to one of those theft victims.
Direct product of bad bicycling behavior
Hasn't anyone noticed how the bad behavior of these kids on dirt bikes is exactly how they ride their bicycles, except now they have motors?
When nobody does anything to correct bad bicycling behavior while kids are young, this is what happens when they get older and get their hands on a motorized bicycle.
Bad street behavior is also a product of the media. Stupid stuff on You-Tube, X-games, and all the like. First with bicycles for the younger set, then carried over to motorbikes with older kids.
Police need to enforce traffic laws on bicyclists and hand out real tickets costing real money with real consequences, starting yesterday or this problem will keep growing. Its much easier and safer to solve the problem sooner on bicycles than trying to catch kids going much faster on motorbikes.
Yawn
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
Some Edits to This
Hasn't anyone noticed how the bad behavior of these kids on dirt bikes is exactly how
they ride their bicyclesthe adults around them drive cars, except now they have motors?When nobody does anything to correct bad
bicyclingdriving behavior by adults while kids are young, this is what happens when they get older and get their hands on a motorizedbicyclevehicle.Bad street behavior is also a product of the media.
Stupid stuff on You-Tube, X-games, and all the like. First with bicycles for the younger set, then carried over to motorbikes with older kids.They hear about how dunk massholes routinely get away with murder, they have no reason to learn the rules!Police need to enforce traffic laws on
bicyclistsmotorized massholes and hand out real tickets costing real money with real consequences, starting yesterday or this problem will keep growing. Its much easier and safer to solve the problem sooneron bicyclesby forcing all adults in motor vehicles to behave or else, than trying to catch kids going much faster on motorbikes.If you guys think that the
If you guys think that the people who ride these dirt bikes behave like either kids on bicycles or adults in cars, then you've never seen them in action.
Hobbyhorse
It's just Markkk on his hobbyhorse. You should see the way he rides it in traffic.
Bicycles?
Really, I never know if some of the comments people put here are serious or just trolling for flame wars.
So in other words, we can think of bicycles as the "gateway vehicle", abuse of which invariably leads our youth down the path to abusing "hard vehicles" like scooters later in life.
Heck, just consider our own Swirly, who no doubt sneaks out to late night meetups for drag racing all over Dorchester, to get a fix. If only we could have intervened sooner. Perhaps we need to fund a "war on bikes", to force everyone into Buicks and Hummers instead?
Having said this, I agree with the poster that traffic rule disobedience is pretty much out of control in this state, from pedestrians to bicyclists to these motorized scooter people to the full fledged auto-bound m@$$h0le$.
FWIW, I got buzzed by a pair
FWIW, I got buzzed by a pair of ATVs Saturday night on Belvidere by the Copley Sheraton. Previously, I've only seen these groups within about 10 blocks of Franklin Park. Am I mad? NO! If they start pulling this crap in the Back Bay, maybe the cops will be forced to do something about it.
Let them ride on the golf course
Solution:
Carve out a couple of acres on the FP Golf Course, (an extremely underutilized public property.)
Install a nonprofit or city led engine repair shop, and bike storage facility.
Let kids learn and ride.
Be progressive.
Need place to ride dirt bikes more than golf
I have to agree with you. Consider how many golf courses there are in the metro Boston area compared to places to ride ATVs and dirt bikes and its clear that ones less golf course would not be a problem.