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News Flash: There's No NYPD Stolen Stroller Squad
By
Jen Chung
Published Jul 3, 2011
Modified Jul 3, 2011
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By
Jen Chung
Published Jul 3, 2011
Modified Jul 3, 2011
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Back in May, WCBS 2 looked at the phenomenon on stroller thefts. Well, maybe it's less a phenomenon and more a logical result of unsecured high-end baby strollers being parked on streets (one Bay Ridge family had two strollers stolen from them), tempting bait to anyone looking for a chic and inexpensive ride for a child. Now, there is definitive word from the NYPD that strollers thefts do not rate its own crime division.
NY Times reporter Elissa Gootman reveals her stroller went missing, "Yes, it was left outside, on a not-so-quiet street in Brooklyn. No, it was not locked up. Yes, I am fully aware of the fraught nature of complaining about the loss of a $400 stroller, one that epitomized privilege, and all that is loathsome about urban bourgeois parenting to begin with." She contacted the ever-helpful NYPD public information office to find out if stroller thefts were a trend: A cop "suggested that I put my 'very unusual request' in an e-mail, but warned, 'Your answer will probably be ‘we can’t accommodate you.'... We don’t have a Stolen Stroller Squad." Even i Later on, another police spokesperson said stolen strollers are "not a problem here in the city, period... I believe it was a problem out West." Or in Toronto, where cops issued an alert telling, duh, parents to bring their strollers inside!
Fun facts: Strollers over $1,000 would be treated as grand larceny, while those under $1,000 would be petty larceny. One mom who had two strollers stolen from her Florida back yard and front porch invented a stroller lock—the Buggyguard which features animal-shaped locks—plus the animals come with different colored bow ties!
Tagged
baby stroller
brooklyn
nypd
stolen stroller squad
theft
urban bourgeois
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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