The location of his stolen bike is known, but this Winnipegger can't get it back
'I'm having to put myself in danger,' man says about efforts to get his back bike
It only took a few minutes for Louis' bike to get stolen.
He was picking up his son from daycare and briefly left his bike unattended and unlocked while he went inside to get his son. When he got outside, his bike was gone.
"I immediately pulled up my Find My [app], so like an AirTag, which isn't the greatest tracker, but it is a tracker," the Winnipeg man said. "I decided to put one on because last year I also had a bike stolen … out of the backyard."
CBC News has agreed to not share Louis' last name because his bike was stolen near his child's daycare and he's concerned for his family's safety.
And while he's reported the theft to the Winnipeg Police Service, as of Friday, he hadn't heard back from them.
Louis tracked his bike to a house on Disraeli Street in the Point Douglas area and knocked on the door. A man answered and said his roommate bought a bike earlier that day that matched the description of Louis' bike.
"I mentioned that it was teal and orange in colour, and they mentioned, 'Ya, that sounds like the bike I have, that I bought today,'" said Louis.
"He mentioned that he just wanted his money back, that he had paid for it."
$50 to buy back bike?
Louis went to a bank machine so he could buy his own bike back, but when he returned with the $50, the man was gone. That evening, he filed a police report online and registered the bike as stolen with 529 Garage, an anti-theft app.
Louis continued to track his bike using the Find My app, hoping he might find it.
"I did see a bright teal bike at an encampment on the other side of the bridge of Disraeli, but it was teal and black," said Louis.
"There was probably five or six people around it … underneath the street lamp, kind of had three or so bikes around them and they could have been taking parts off, but I'm not sure."
3,000 bikes are stolen in Winnipeg each year
Back in June, CBC asked police about bike thefts at the Disraeli encampment, and they said in an email they were investigating bike thefts and "chop shops." The city's website says around 3,000 bikes are stolen each year in Winnipeg.
Louis said over the next few days the bike tracker moved around the downtown area. Eventually, it landed at a hotel on Main Street just north of Higgins Avenue. The AirTag says it's still there. He drove down Main Street to see if he could find it.
"[Winnipeg Police Service] are probably busy with bigger things than a $500 bike, but when does it become a bigger problem?" said Louis.
"I understand that one individual bike is not something they should be pursuing … but at the same time, I'm having to put myself in danger."
Police response
In a statement to CBC, Winnipeg Police said the stolen bike online report was triaged, and the property crimes unit has been assigned.
"For their own safety, the Winnipeg Police Service advises citizens not to attempt to recover stolen property themselves. If someone knows the location of their stolen property, they can call the Non-Emergency Line," said a police statement.
Police said anything requiring an immediate response should be reported over the phone. Louis said he did call the non-emergency line, but the automated phone service told him to report the theft online.
