Montrose man has $50,000 motorcycle stolen: What HPD Union says to do

Man trying to track down stolen motorcycle

Tracking devices, like AirTags, are super handy nowadays for finding lost things, like your keys, maybe when you leave the house. But what about tracking your stolen valuables? FOX 26's Angie Rodriguez spoke with a man who had his motorcycle stolen from his apartment that had a tracking device on it.

HOUSTON - Thursday afternoon, two men were caught on camera stealing a motorcycle from an apartment complex.

Brian Smith, the owner of the bike, says that the vehicle is worth approximately $50,000. 

The backstory:

Last Thursday afternoon, the two suspects who have yet to be identified, stole Smith's BMW RR from his apartment complex.

On Friday morning, Smith realized the bike had been stolen, and proceeded to make a report with the Houston Police Department.

After not hearing back from HPD, Smith decided to use the tracker he installed to attempt to find the bike on his own.

He was able to track the motorcycle down to the Kingswood Village apartments on Tidwell. Smith attempted to look around and find the vehicle, to no avail. He instead found the tracker beeping in the complex's trash bin.

"It just felt like (HPD) didn't care," Smith said. "They had asked me like a brief question, like same thing over and over to kind of, like, trip you up. Where are the keys that you let anyone borrow this? And it's like, no, sir, there's this is the title to my bike. I'm not wasting your time."

HPD continues to investigate the theft, but has not identified the suspects involved.

"I'm heartbroken," Smith said. "You want someone to feel like they're supporting you, that they're there to work for you, that this is the community leaders. It just kind of felt like they didn't care. They have bigger fish to fry, and I can totally understand that there's bigger things than motorcycle, but I feel like everybody should be treated with respect and care." 

The other side:

The Houston Police Officers' Union says that despite the community's beliefs, Houstonians should remain faithful that HPD is consistently working on retrieving their stolen property.

"What we suggest people to do is once you do find and realize something’s been stolen, or your property’s been taken, and you do know the location of where that property is, please call the local authorities. Give them a description of what it is, kind of a time frame of when it may have been taken, so the officers know what they’re looking for," Ken Nealy, Vice President of the union, said.

Nealy continues to add that attempting to retrieve your own stolen items could end fatally.

"We don’t suggest anyone trying to receive their property because you have to think about that property was taken from you by somebody who’s already involved in a criminal element," Nealy said. "You don’t know that person may have a weapon, knife, gun, or harm to the person that you came with."