E-Bikes, Moped Gangs, Mail Theft Top 17 Pct Community Council Meeting

Upper East Side residents sounded off on the dangers of e-bikes and mopeds and the malefactors of mail theft, at a recent 17th Precinct Community Council meeting. Tougher enforcement for e-bikers who flaunt the rules was among the suggested solutions.

Although they were only one item on the agenda, they dominated the conversation. Captain Allen Kirmss, who took over as commanding officer in January acknowledged that e-bikes are always “a hot topic” at the monthly meetings.

“How many here have had close calls with E-bikes or scooters?” asked one woman at the meeting held in the Sutton Place Synagogue at 225 E. 51 St. on April 28.

In response, hands shot up all over the room. Several of the 25 people in the audience, which consisted mainly of seniors in their 60s, 70s and 80s, commiserated, complained, and clamored for change. One resident, a youngish senior citizen named Mark Goodman, described himself as an avid athlete. He said he feels safe skiing, but when he walks in the street, he feels his life is in danger.

“These bikes have lowered the quality of life. It’s a motorcycle, not a bike.”

Another resident, 87-year-old attorney Harvey Tropp, suggested that violators’ E-bikes be confiscated, which would hit the delivery apps where it hurts. “The word will get out,” Tropp said, “because this is their living. If they know that disobeying the law might result in the loss of the vehicle that gives them a livelihood, they won’t do it anymore.”

The NYPD’s Kirmss said the 17th Pct conducted two enforcement efforts in April, where he said police issued more than 100 summonses, confiscated 11 bikes, and made seven arrests. And there are plans to add more police—on bikes.

“We’re out there and making our presence known,” said Kirmss, “but we can’t be everywhere at once.” Also, he mentioned, police don’t always have the power to confiscate bikes. They have to operate by the letter of the law.

Kirmss wasn’t only there to talk E-bikes. His first order of business was to deliver a monthly crime report in the 17th precinct, which covers East 30th to East 59th Streets and from Lexington Avenue to the East River.

Crime was down 30 percent in every category except felony assaults. But, Kirmss told the crowd, no need for locals to panic, because the reported felony assaults did not take place on the streets; they involved patients committing acts of aggression against medical staff in hospitals, which trigger an automatic felony assault charge.

He went on to describe two other trends plaguing the neighborhood, one of which surprised even this veteran crime reporter.

It seems mailbox thieves acting in groups of two or three individuals come down from the Bronx (police believe) on mopeds, and go up and down First or Second Avenue in wealthy precincts such as the Upper East Side and Sutton Place. Acting in concert, they steal mail, with the intention of finding checks they can either cash or “wash,” changing the recipient’s name and the amount.

The way they do it sounds like something out of Rube Goldberg. “It’s almost like a belt,” said Captain Kirmss, “and they attach rodent catchers, it’s like sticky tape. They’ll approach the mailbox, and they’ll stick it into the mailbox while the other two work as a lookout. And then from there, they’ll just pull out all the mail. So it’s almost like a claw machine.”

It’s no laughing matter. The crooks got their hands on several checks with numbers in the thousands. It was around tax time, so there were checks made out to accountants, New York State, and the federal government. Two practical tips to avoid being victimized: Mail checks directly in the post office, or if you simply must use a street mailbox, check when the last pickup is and deposit mail just before.

The perps are hitting mailboxes mostly in the middle of the night. Another crime trending in the 17th: individuals are renting U-Haul trucks from outer boroughs, mainly Queens (again, police believe), and they’re coming to more affluent neighborhoods to steal E-bikes, mopeds, and electronic devices. “They’re lifting them, they’re cutting the locks, and they’re putting them into the back of a U-Haul truck,” said the precinct Captain, eliciting a chorus of audience members shouting “Good!” (As previously mentioned, this crowd was not a fan of E-bikes.)

So what can be done about these urban missiles? Unfortunately, there’s no easy fix. However, Captain Kirmss said if anyone sees E-bike riders violating laws in his precinct—going the wrong way down a one-way street, riding on the sidewalk, etc.—don’t call 911, because by the time a cruiser arrives to deal with it, the bike will be long gone. Instead, he says, call him directly. The precinct phone number is (212) 826-3211 and it is located at 167 East 51st Street.