Kids were Skeptical but Officer Finds their Stolen Bikes

Three brothers whose bikes were stolen a month ago have them back, thanks to an officer who stopped to chat with them.

On July 23, Ottawa Police Cst. Troy Forgie was patrolling on bike in the Bayshore area when a young resident showed him a ‘pop-a-wheelie’. When the boy challenged him to do one, Cst. Forgie showed him another trick he calls the ‘two-wheel bunny hop’ a jump with both tires off the ground at the same time. The boy was impressed, as were three other boys watching from nearby.

“Being on a bicycle makes me more accessible and approachable to residents,” said Cst. Forgie. “Doing a trick is a conversation-starter with the kids.”

That’s when the boys told Cst. Forgie about their stolen bikes. He asked if they reported the theft to police. They hadn’t. The brothers, 14, 12 and 10, figured it was pointless.

Cst. Forgie asked them for a description of the bikes and the boys showed him a photo.

“I recognized the bicycles and knew exactly where they were,” said Cst. Forgie. He’d seen them in the Lost and Found at the Bayshore Shopping Centre. It wasn’t a stretch, since the brothers said that’s where the bikes were taken from.

The boys were skeptical, but they went home and asked their parents if they could go to Bayshore with the officer to get their bikes.

Cst. Forgie walked the boys to the bus stop and since they didn’t have bus passes, he asked the OC Transpo driver if he could take them for free, so they could pick up their bikes. The driver was happy to help.

Cst. Forgie and Cst. Carleigh Entwistle biked over to Bayshore to meet the boys and sure enough, the bikes were there, just as he said. 

“The smiles on their faces were a mix of joy and amazement,” said Cst. Forgie. “Until that moment, they didn’t believe they were going to get their bikes back.”

The officers rode back with the boys to their neighbourhood. On the way, they encountered the boys’ father walking to the store. He too couldn’t believe the bikes were found and expressed his thanks to the officers.

“I remember what it was like to have a bike as a kid, and I know how much I would have missed it if it was taken away,” said Cst. Forgie. “I’m glad we were able to give them their bikes back with plenty of the summer left to enjoy them.”

Cst. Forgie is a big fan of policing on two wheels, and so it seems, are the children in his neighbourhood. “The kids follow us on their bikes. It’s community policing at its best, because if the boys hadn’t told me about their bikes, we never would have known who was missing them.”

Nothing is too small to report. Reporting incidents enables Ottawa Police to follow up and to detect crime trends and patterns. You can file a report online or by calling the Police Reporting Unit at 613-236-1222 extension 7300.

You can help protect your bike by registering on 529 Garage. It only takes five minutes to register on the app and it can help police locate your stolen or lost bike more quickly.