SAN DIEGO COUNTY, Calif. — It’s a crime, that largely goes unpunished. Brazen thieves trying to get their hands on bicycles, for a lucrative black market.
“We feel that the police don't have our back," said Joseph Herrera of North Park.
Two years ago, Herrera had two bikes stolen from outside his house and when he called the police the next morning, he did not get the response he was looking for.
“They simply said, 'look, go online and file a report and get a number, keep calling in and you’ll get a detective assigned and they’ll call you'," said Herrera. “So nobody ever did call.”
That’s when he took matters into his own hands, documenting susceptive bike thieves and sharing his photos online.
The Facebook group, Stolen Bike San Diego, has several posts a day from frustrated cyclists asking the community to keep an eye open for their stolen bikes.
What Herrera found was familiar faces, the same people returning to this spot across the street from the San Diego Zoo, with new bikes.
“I noticed on certain days of the week they would come and pick up bicycles underneath the tarps,” said Herrera. “Take them out to swap meets in the East Bay or take them into house in North Park.”
Herrera said the bikes are being taken to abandoned buildings where the bikes are chopped. Parts from other stolen bikes swapped out, replaced and painted over making the original bike nearly unrecognizable.
“My theft totaled $25,000 total for all four of my bicycles,” said Mike Morrison, who has had his fair share of headaches with bike thieves.
Though Morrison took precautions with keeping his expensive bikes safe, men were still able to break into his garage and take what they wanted.
“That same night,” said Morrison. “The police did catch one of the bike thieves with one of my bicycles and he is in jail.”
However, Morrison’s case is rare, more likely than not if your bike is stolen, chances are you’re not getting it back.
CBS News 8's Tim Blodgett wanted to speak to San Diego Police about what they’re doing to prevent bike crime in the city.
Unfortunately, Officer Ariel Savage wasn’t able to get Blodgett all the answers he wanted, but they did tell him why it’s so hard to apprehend bike thieves.
“People don’t know their serial numbers to that bike,” said Officer Savage. “So they’re not able to give that to the officers when they take a bike theft report. So we don’t know if that bike is in fact stolen or not.”
But for Herrera and Morrison, they’re not likely to get their bikes back and they want accountability and action from the San Diego Police Department.
“They know who these guys are. They know where they are and there doesn't seem to be anything being done about it.” said Morrison.
The best way you can keep your bike safe is to be sure to keep it out of sight, always lock it and register the serial number on Bikeindex.com.
WATCH RELATED: San Diego's top stories for July 7, 2021 at 6 p.m. (July 2021)