Tipster on bike helps UP coed thwart QC pickpocket

Thanks to a bystander and a motorcycle rider who alerted the police, a University of the Philippines student recovered her cell phone from a pickpocket who unzipped her bag as she crossed the Philcoa footbridge on Commonwealth Avenue in Quezon City.

Jay-R Rosales, 24, was arrested Tuesday near the footbridge shortly after taking the phone of Jessa Joy Atayde. A man caught Rosales in the act and shouted for help, according to Quezon City Police District director Senior Supt. Richard Albano.

A motorcycle rider who had just passed under the footbridge to make a U-turn at the intersection of Elliptical Road and Commonwealth heard the shouts and sped toward an approaching patrol car from the QCPD’s Anonas station to inform the officers.

Albano noted that the rider was wearing a vest recently issued by the QCPD and bearing his motorcycle’s license plate number, indicating that he was one of the volunteers tapped by the city police to serve as tipsters against street criminals, particularly those who also use bikes.

The QCPD launched the program last week, enlisting more than 1,000 riders. Julie M. Aurelio