In these first days of 2023, in which the security of the transport system in Bogota is the target of criticism, a video was released on social networks showing how a citizen prevented the theft of a Transmilenio bus fire extinguisher. It is not the first time that the passengers themselves are the ones who prevent this type of crime.
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With his cell phone, a Transmilenio user recorded how a man was wearing one of the bus fire extinguishers under his shirt and waiting near the door to get to the next stop to get off with the object. However, the citizen confronted the alleged criminal to prevent the crime.
“Give back the fire extinguisher. You’re not going to steal it, leave it there or it won’t get off”, the passenger is heard saying, who in turn approaches the other man and records him. Although he resists, the subject ends up returning the fire extinguisher.
The user shared the video on the TikTok social network and wrote as a description: “Let’s leave the idea that because it is public it does not belong to us, because it belongs to the State. The State we are all. If something is damaged or stolen, it is a damage that they do to all of us”.
@76a62 Let’s leave the idea that because it is public it does not belong to us because it belongs to the state, the state is ALL of us if something is damaged or stolen it is a damage that they do to ALL of us #transmilenio #alcaldiabogota #policenationalcolombia #solidarity #robo #tygua #claudialopez ♬ original sound – Jaime Enrique Arguel
A little over a month ago, another citizen confronted a subject who was ripping the sheets from the roof of the “Universidad Nacional” Transmilenio station, located at Carrera 30 with Calle 45. A woman recorded the episode that ended in a struggle between the two men. Finally, two sheets were stolen, while another three were recovered.
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“A criminal ends the station and normal, like everything that happens in our city and the spectators do not help”, said the woman who was recording. The other citizens present at the station pointed out that intervening in the robbery might be risky, “then take out a knife”, one is heard saying.
According to figures from the Bogotá Council, insecurity in the Transmilenio is overflowing and the numbers of thefts and robberies have been increasing in recent years: Only in the trunk feeder and zonal service component, in 2019 551 incidents were reported; in 2020 there were 845; in 2021 the figure rose to 1,169, and in 2022, cut to September, it was 1,025.
