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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'

#61

Post by lainga »

nodesocket wrote: post #30
gowld wrote: post #7

This is litter and vandalism. Why aren't people calling the police/city to remove this junk from the streets, and fine the owners for illegal dumping?

I live in Nashville and the city just impounded 411 Bird Scooters which effectively caused them to halt operation temporarily[1]. While Tennessee the state is conservative, Nashville the city is quite liberal. The biggest concern that citizens and the city has is the mentality that when your done with the scooter you can just leave it in the middle of the sidewalk or anywhere you please. Bird needs to be proactive ab…

building off beenBoutIT's comment later on down the thread, someone in a city with an eager police force could maybe in theory - not giving any suggestions - kick over a stand of Lime scooters and run away, making them flood the police with calls, and irritating them enough to pull strings and make the city ban them. Just try to do it all at once, so the calls are bunched up temporally and interfere as little as possible with legitimate 911 calls.

Just in theory. I have no opinion on these scooters.

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

#62

Post by assblaster »

crooked-v wrote: post #29
assblaster wrote: post #4

This article says the word "police" is racist. >Built-in alarm sparks anger from city officials amid concerns over racism and policing: ‘This is a threat to people’

No, the article says that it's a threat to people. The racism comes in with the way that many white people presume a benefit of the doubt for interaction with police that many black people never experience. For example, I'll presume you've never lived in a neighborhood where a black man got shot by police while literally laying on the ground motionless with his arms up. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nbcnews.com/ne…

Black people in general actually appreciate the police and are thankful for them and their work. The "systemic racism" allegation against police has been proven false, yet race hustlers like the author of this article, continue to try to promulgate this false accusation.

I'm white, yet when I'm near police, I feel anxious. Does that mean that police are racist against white people too?

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

#63

Post by seiferteric »

xanderstrike wrote: post #52
seiferteric wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Who is stealing? It sounds like this is essentially abandoned property in city streets?

Just like a parked motorcycle or bicycle right? You can just throw it on your van because it's abandoned.

how long can you park your car somewhere before it is ticketed and eventually tagged as abandoned and towed away? Almost all parking is time limited. Does the company even care about that?

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

#64

Post by scotty79 »

> “This is not only an annoying noise, this is a threat to people. For black people, that can really be experienced as a death threat,”

This is so effed up it's beyond words.

> said Kaplan, who is crafting legislation to regulate the scooters and now plans to add a proposal to prohibit loud noises and threats.

Sure that's the right way to approach the problem of black people fearing for their lives every time anyone decides to loudly announce the possible need for involvement of government employees to conform with the laws.

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

#65

Post by seiferteric »

bifrost wrote: post #57
seiferteric wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Who is stealing? It sounds like this is essentially abandoned property in city streets?

If you're walking off with someone else's property without their permission to use it, its not abandoned and is stealing.

I think the law is not so clear on that as you seem to think. How long can the scooter sit there? Eventually it could be considered abandoned if they are not coming to pick it up ever.

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

#66

Post by ceejayoz »

kazinator wrote: post #51
gowld wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's because you don't view the police as a dangerous occupying force in your community.

If someone was stealing your stuff, who would you call, then? Let's assume for a moment that it's a good idea for the scooters to threaten to call someone. (It isn't, but let's bear with this). Who should the the scooters threaten to call? "I will call Reverend James from the parish down the street?" "I will call your mother?" "I will call the fire department?"

> If someone was stealing your stuff, who would you call, then?

Homeowners/renters insurance?

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

#67

Post by bifrost »

seiferteric wrote: post #63
xanderstrike wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just like a parked motorcycle or bicycle right? You can just throw it on your van because it's abandoned.

how long can you park your car somewhere before it is ticketed and eventually tagged as abandoned and towed away? Almost all parking is time limited. Does the company even care about that?

A while, and then its removed by law enforcement, not the general public. "Theft by Government" is wholly different.

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

#68

Post by bifrost »

seiferteric wrote: post #65
bifrost wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you're walking off with someone else's property without their permission to use it, its not abandoned and is stealing.

I think the law is not so clear on that as you seem to think. How long can the scooter sit there? Eventually it could be considered abandoned if they are not coming to pick it up ever.

If it was truly abandoned, maybe. However if the scooter is alerting that its being stolen its probably not abandoned... We're not talking about sitting somewhere for a week, more like a couple hours, I doubt you'll find anyone who reasonably thinks thats abandoned.

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

#69

Post by ceejayoz »

assblaster wrote: post #62
crooked-v wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, the article says that it's a threat to people. The racism comes in with the way that many white people presume a benefit of the doubt for interaction with police that many black people never experience. For example, I'll presume you've never lived in a neighborhood where a black man got shot by police while literally laying on the ground motionless with his arms up. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nbcnews.com/ne…

Black people in general actually appreciate the police and are thankful for them and their work. The "systemic racism" allegation against police has been proven false, yet race hustlers like the author of this article, continue to try to promulgate this false accusation. I'm white, yet when I'm near police, I feel anxious. Does that mean that police are racist against white people too?

https://ropercenter.cornell.edu/black-white-blue-americans-a...

> Blacks and whites have very different perceptions of how much police are held accountable for misconduct. In a December 2014 poll, over twice as many whites as blacks said that they were very or somewhat confident that police are held accountable.

> Whites today are more than twice as likely as blacks to say they are confident that the police in this country are adequately trained to avoid the use of excessive force.

> 37% of blacks, compared to 17% of whites, say police in their community make them feel mostly anxious instead of safe. Only 38% of blacks give their local police good or excellent ratings for controlling crime – the same proportion as said back in 1969 that the police in their neighborhood were doing a good job. Nearly seven in ten whites today give their local police excellent or good ratings.

That said, this bit is kinda fascinating given the above:

> When asked about preferences for police presence in their local area, blacks are 20 percentage points more likely to say they would prefer a larger police presence, indication that many blacks see underpolicing in their communities as a problem. Blacks and whites are equally unwilling to decrease police numbers in order to lower taxes.

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

#70

Post by bifrost »

diogenescynic wrote: post #59
bifrost wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Do they actually sell them? Who is buying this from them? I've seen a few homeless with them, but assumed they were trying to strip them down to recycle the metal, not sell for parts. Anyone actually know?

I've not stopped to ask, I'm assuming that someone's figured out how to remove the proprietary parts so that the scooters can be reused at will. I think metal recycling is also probable. I've heard that some scooter companies will offer rewards for scooters that were "lost" then returned, so thats probably pretty lucrative.
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