RUPD bike policy violates student rights
Announcements were made as usual when I ate lunch last week. But what was unusual was a Rice University Police Department officer giving one concerning bike thefts. He explained that a bike thief had been found recently, but because the stolen bikes had not been registered with RUPD, they could not prove the bikes were really stolen property, so the thief was released. The officer explained that to help prevent this sort of thing from happening again, RUPD was going to great lengths to get people to see the importance of registering and securing their bikes: They were collecting unlocked bikes.
Having first-week-of-classes worries and not being a bike owner, I thought nothing more of it for the moment. But the next day at lunch I again heard a conversation roughly like so: “Dude, they took my bike. My bike is at RUPD.”
“What? Forget that.”
And it hit me that this final part of the exchange was the right emotional response.
You have probably seen the flyers or received an e-mail explaining the “Bike Theft Alert,” but just in case you have not seen the message, it reads: “Recently, the University has been plagued by a rash of bicycle thefts. The University Police Department is working diligently to catch these thieves. In addition, we are collecting and securing unlocked and unregistered bicycles from all across campus.”
Why should RUPD feel ethically responsible to remove our legal property? It is not RUPD’s job to baby-sit our things and take care of them. We are the owners of our bikes; it is not their business to mess with our property. RUPD’s collection of bicycles is in itself pseudo-stealing, even if it is with good intentions. I sympathize with the frustration RUPD feels as they come up with ways to deter crime.
I understand that it is a good idea to register your bike so if it is stolen it can be identified as yours and confirmed to be stolen property. However, that does not justify this measure of “collecting and securing unlocked and unregistered” bikes in an attempt to suggest they become registered. It is shocking that RUPD feels they can relocate our property when these belongings are certainly causing no harm or offense to anyone.
And why should we be so strongly urged to registering our bikes? Everyone is entitled to make “bad decisions” if they want, such as eating ice cream sandwiches instead of vegetables, running Baker 13 in the rain or skipping a test. The consequences of these actions are confined to those who made the decision to perform the actions, and as such should not be regulated by society, or specifically those we call the “authorities.” When consequences for actions extend beyond the individual — such as murder, libel or other forms of harassment — it can then be appropriate for society to regulate such behavior. Deciding to not register a bike hurts no one; the only potential serious consequence is regretting not having done so if a criminal gets away with keeping your bike because it could not be proven to belong to you.
I do not intend to show any disrespect to RUPD, just disrespect for their actions in this matter. What I hope they will opt to do instead is just leave notes on the bicycles they target, as the Thresher had suggested back when RUPD was relocating belongings left unattended in the library, which would be much less invasive (“RUPD: Stop stealing,” Oct. 26, 2007).
I know if a thief is found with an unregistered stolen bike, it is hard to prove that it is stolen and therefore the criminal can be released, but what is more important than letting petty criminals run free is maintaining everyone’s individual rights, and I see RUPD’s taking up bikes as an example of a threat to such rights.
Even beyond the hedges, I hope that this event can serve as a small-scale example of what happens when people surrender up responsibilities for safety. Yes, I know RUPD does not aim to become the Big Brother who tells us 2 + 2 = 5 in the style of George Orwell’s 1984, but the mindset is the same: The authorities are taking care of the people.
As Benjamin Franklin said, “Anyone who trades liberty for security deserves neither liberty nor security.” An individual is entitled to the “bad decision” of flying a kite in the rain.
Vanessa Johnson is a Will Rice College sophomore.
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