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Scooters littering US city streets alarm: 'Unlock me or I'll call the police'

theguardian.com

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Re: Scooters littering US city streets alarm: 'Unlock me or I'll call the police'

#31

Post by ceejayoz »

_rpd wrote: post #28
ceejayoz wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, it's a genuinely baffling decision. A polite "Hey! Looks like you're checking out our scooter! For more info, head to example.com - use COUPONCODE for $5 off your first ride!" seems like it'd be equally effective at getting the message across and far less off-putting.

Maybe they are experiencing really high levels of theft and are desperate to do something to stem the loss?

An actual thief is probably going to laugh and roll their eyes at the idea that the police will respond to an automated 911 call from a scooter left on the sidewalk.

Re: Scooters littering US city streets alarm: 'Unlock me or I'll call the police'

#32

Post by frgtpsswrdlame »

larrik wrote: post #3

I don't really see the racism slant the article is trying to paint all over this stupidity.

Well let's take an easy example. If the scooter said "Unlock me or I'll call the KKK" we can all agree that's racist right? But even in this example it's not like the scooter is itself doing anything racist, right? It's just calling for help from a group of people who happen to be racist, it just so happens that calling racists to help you is probably pretty racist. So what does that give us? If you don't think the cops are racist then calling the cops isn't racist, if you think the cops are racist then calling the cops can be racist.

But aside from that I think the racism angle is a bit distracting. The real problem seems to me that scooter companies are allowed to push all these ugly externalities on us without paying for them. I see that there is a role for police in private property protection, but is there some point at which we ask a company to pay for a certain amount of their own protection? It seems to me that these scooter services introduce the possibility of crime to a level we don't normally see. Maybe they should pay for that.

Re: Scooters littering US city streets alarm: 'Unlock me or I'll call the police'

#33

Post by beenBoutIT »

_rpd wrote: post #17
beenBoutIT wrote: post #14

Sounds like a lone drifter ambling about could kick down a row of these and execute a DDOS attack on whatever emergency lines the scooters are wired into.

> Repeatedly touching a scooter for 10 minutes in Oakland on Wednesday afternoon did not result in a response or call to police. Looks like the company doesn't even make a call, probably to avoid the high fines for nuisance calls.

Oakland has a shortage of police officers and calling the OPD generally wouldn't result in a response in 10 minutes. I've heard stories of waiting several hours for officers to arrive.

Re: Scooters littering US city streets alarm: 'Unlock me or I'll call the police'

#34

Post by ttul »

bifrost wrote: post #5
toomuchtodo wrote: post #2

Anyone know if people have started to gather these scooters up and part them out?

Yep, it happens in SF. I've walked by several encampments and they're getting parted out fast.

In Vancouver, these things wouldn’t last five minutes.

Re: Scooters littering US city streets alarm: 'Unlock me or I'll call the police'

#37

Post by malchow »

ceejayoz wrote: post #31
_rpd wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe they are experiencing really high levels of theft and are desperate to do something to stem the loss?

An actual thief is probably going to laugh and roll their eyes at the idea that the police will respond to an automated 911 call from a scooter left on the sidewalk.

Isn't it the case, in SF, that police do not even respond to actual automobile break-ins when their very owners call to request police aid?

If a smashed window + stolen laptop (total loss: ~$2,500) can't convince the SF police to lift a finger, I doubt a scooter (~$400) will. Sad situation all around.

Re: Scooters littering US city streets alarm: 'Unlock me or I'll call the police'

#38

Post by _rpd »

jerf wrote: post #27

Anyone have a recording of the audio played? A quick cruise to YouTube came up empty, though perhaps your search terms will be better than mine.

The Guardian video has it, although it also has muzak playing over it ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6Ly1aArYjU

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