Cyclists who locked up their bikes to a public sign or light pole along Bedford Avenue last week might have been in for a shock when they returned to find their bikes gone, the locks snipped and their two-wheelers confiscated by the 94th Precinct.It is illegal to lock a bike to public property, but the extreme measures taken by the NYPD came under fire from cycling advocates after their actions on June 28."Legally, bicycles may not lock to sign posts and other street furniture," admitted Caroline Samponaro, Bicycle Campaign coordinator for Transportation Alternatives. "Practically, this is a necessity because citywide, on average, there is only one bicycle rack for every 40 cyclists."Sam Rockwell, a spokesperson for Councilman David Yassky, said that he tried to call the precinct once he heard about the bike confiscations, but no one picked up the phone. He did fire off a letter to the precinct's Community Affairs officers urging them to return all of the bikes taken last Thursday."I realize that all of the bicycles clipped were chained illegally to city property," he wrote. "However, as you know, there is a marked lack of legal DOT bicycle parking in the area, compared to the number of bikes that park near the Bedford L train station."Teresa Toro, who chairs Community Board 1's Transportation Committee, has been urging both the 90th and 94th precincts to adopt a bike tagging system similar to one already employed by officers from Manhattan's 9th Precinct.Williamsburg has several bike racks, and Toro successfully lobbied the Department of Transportation to eliminate one parking spot on Bedford Avenue to make room for additional bike parking - the first time in the history of the city that that has happened. However, as she pointed out in a letter sent to Captain Paul Vorbeck, commanding officer of the 94th Precinct, many of the racks are occupied by what appear to be abandoned bikes."This makes the racks unavailable to other cyclists, and the situation is also unsightly and unsafe," she said, "as parts of the abandoned (and then frequently vandalized) bikes slide onto the sidewalk, which pedestrians must then avoid."Toro argues a bike tagging system would help the police know which bikes are abandoned and which are waiting for an owner to return. Officers would tag a bike with a notice informing the owner that if it isn't moved within two weeks, the lock will be clipped and confiscated.Samponaro said that the lack of bike parking is discouraging environmentally friendly forms of transportation, even as the mayor is pushing for a greener city."The 94th Precinct should follow the lead of other precincts and make sure that a bike is abandoned before they seize it," she said. "Until this necessary and practical policy is adopted, precincts will continue to discourage bicycling."Toro agrees. "I find this particularly outrageous, given Mayor Bloomberg and DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan's recent efforts to promote more and better biking and walking alternatives for New Yorkers," she said.The bike clippings seem slightly at odds with a notice that was posted to signs on Bedford Avenue last Tuesday by the 94th Precinct. It read that the NYPD has "seen a visible increase in bicycle ridership. We welcome and encourage this trend."The notice, however, also warned bicyclists that they were obligated to obey all traffic rules, and that any cyclist seen, say, running a red light or stop sign could be issued a summons, provided they were carrying proper identification. Those without i.d.'s, warned the flyer, would be taken to the stationhouse for processing.Toro said that she doesn't know exactly what prompted the flyer, but wonders why the 94th Precinct decided to focus on cyclists, when car and truck drivers commit much more dangerous actions daily."That includes intimidating pedestrians in crosswalks to get them to move faster, or speeding to beat red lights," she said. "There are degrees of violations, and those moving violations committed by vehicle drivers are much more likely to result in a fatality."Captain Vorbeck did not return calls for comment.