“DC Police told me to call metro police who told me they can’t do anything”

“Dear PoPville,

After locking my green bike (the bottom one) to a bike rack on H Street on Saturday, I came back to find someone else locked their bike to mine. DC Police told me to call metro police who told me they can’t do anything. I went back to check on the bike twice today (Sunday) and it’s still locked to mine. How can I get my bike unlocked?

It’s parked on 17th St. NW in between H and Pennsylvania, if that helps. 311 sent me to a voicemail who hasn’t called me back. Went by again this morning and the blue bike is still locked to my bike!”

Unfortunately last time this happened to someone there weren’t many good suggestion beyond confirming this is indeed a common tactic used by bike thieves. Though one reader has success with MPD:

“This happened to me once. I called the cops, when they showed up and verified that it was my bike being held hostage (common practice to later steal it) they told me to go find tools or hire someone to cut the other persons lock. They waited there until I went home and retrieved my angle grinder and cut the lock. Not sure what they did with the other bike, but I overheard the radio conversation and they said to take it to the police station.”