Last Monday, my Giant bicycle was stolen while I was in Muay Thai class. I left it in the bike parking lot on the west side of Sanlitun SOHO. Though it wasn’t locked to anything stationary (first mistake), it had two locks – one in the front, one in the back – and was left in full sight of several people in a parking lot I’d used before. In total, I was gone for just over an hour.

After I realized it was gone, I paced up and down the lot several times and asked a security guard if Sanlitun SOHO had any security cameras. “Yes, but they’re not pointed in this direction,” he said. Really? Your security footage doesn’t extend to the parking lot, where theft is most likely? OK then.

In the end, I spoke to a police officer and filed a police report a few days later. And you know what? The process was pretty easy. Here’s what happened.

To read the full article, head over to our sister website beijingkids.

Photo: skyscrapercity.com