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My bike was stolen (2017)

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Re: My bike was stolen (2017)

#81

Post by TreeRingCounter »

nostromo wrote: post #71
BashiBazouk wrote: post #38

A long time ago I had a bicycle stolen. I had registered the bike with the city as "required" had filled out a police report with license number and serial number. Found the bike locked up in town on a Friday night. Flagged down a police officer and told him about the bicycle theft, police report and had a copy of the paperwork with all the relevant info. Cops reply: I can't get a locksmith out until Monday. Went hom…

This is entirely dependent on what city you live in and who you elect to local leadership positions. My brother's bike was stolen in college when he lived in Logan Utah. As a non-native he was shocked to find that the cops put out a description of the stolen bike immediately and it was spotted and returned within hours. I believe an arrest was also made. There's no reason we just need to accept that you can steal any…

Logan is >80% Mormon. Indeed, when you have high-trust, high-IQ, low-crime demographics, it becomes a lot more practical to address property crimes - there aren't very many of them, and there aren't many serious crimes higher up the todo list.

It has some, but not all, to do with the people in power. The demographics of a city like NYC are such that you would have to 10x police expenditures and radically expand police powers to get property crime down to those of places like Logan.

Re: My bike was stolen (2017)

#82

Post by jjtheblunt »

Fatnino wrote: post #76
jjtheblunt wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep it was a mistake, and they admitted such. I thought of small claims but for a then old 10 speed bike no longer made, i figured i'd squander more time and effort than the cost of replacing it.

Small claims court is self serve, no lawyer needed. It's as simple as filling out a form and plonking down $75 or so. And you can add that fee to the damages so it costs you nothing.

that i did not know at all!

Re: My bike was stolen (2017)

#83

Post by mrWiz »

subroutine wrote: post #31
ndsipa_pomu wrote: post #23

I wish bike manufacturers would start including GPS devices into the frames of high-end bikes. The devices would need some access to insert SIMs and charge them and then it should act as a deterrent.

Something like an airtag would probably work.

I think it would be hard to hide an airtag effectively on a metal-framed bike. Putting it in the frame would interfere with wireless communication and any other location would be easily discovered.

Re: My bike was stolen (2017)

#84

Post by avidiax »

bombcar wrote: post #54
fknorangesite wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Even if you do all the work for them, cops are useless for bicycles... It's not just bicycles.

Anyone who thinks cops will help recover stolen items has never had an item stolen. If you're really lucky you might get a call back someday on a car.

From what I've heard, you usually don't want a stolen car back. The thieves will not be taking good care of it.

Re: My bike was stolen (2017)

#85

Post by benhurmarcel »

mrWiz wrote: post #83
subroutine wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Something like an airtag would probably work.

I think it would be hard to hide an airtag effectively on a metal-framed bike. Putting it in the frame would interfere with wireless communication and any other location would be easily discovered.

That's correct [1], but there are plenty of accessories to hide one pretty well still.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLtWN1Mp2Qc

Re: My bike was stolen (2017)

#86

Post by hahamrfunnyguy »

SeanLuke wrote: post #79

I have an unusual folding bike. It's a Bike Friday Tikit, and basically has a Steal Me sign attached to it. But it also can be folded extremely rapidly and covered with a custom built-in cover so it looks like, oh, a tuba case. My anti-theft strategy is: my bike has never had a lock. This forces me to fold and cover it and take it in with me wherever I go. Office buildings, federal buildings in DC (really), offices i…

Rules is rules!

Re: My bike was stolen (2017)

#87

Post by aidenn0 »

chroma wrote: post #14
theturtletalks wrote: post #4

I had the same bike stolen twice and was able to find it on Facebook marketplace both times. The key is to file a police report and make sure you have the serial number of the bike. Without these, the police will not help. Once you find your bike, message the person, negotiate, set-up a meet up, and then get the police involved. Although we caught the guys selling the stolen bikes red-handed, the police couldn’t do a…

So the police didn't do any detective work, didn't help with the sting operation, and they didn't punish the thief. It seems like it'd be more fruitful to get a few of your friends and solve the problem yourself. It's not like the thief is going to go to the cops.

> It's not like the thief is going to go to the cops.

That's a rather bold statement. A friend was sexually assaulted in a public bathroom, punched the person who did it, and then my friend had assault charges filed on him by that person. My friend was able to plea to non-criminal charges, but it certainly wasn't a pleasant experience.

Re: My bike was stolen (2017)

#88

Post by bombcar »

jjtheblunt wrote: post #82
Fatnino wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Small claims court is self serve, no lawyer needed. It's as simple as filling out a form and plonking down $75 or so. And you can add that fee to the damages so it costs you nothing.

that i did not know at all!

And usually it results in either the company completely ignoring you (you get a default judgement in your favor) or they just write you a check to make you go away.

Re: My bike was stolen (2017)

#89

Post by truth777 »

dopu wrote: post #68
smm11 wrote: post #30

I know of someone who, during the pandemic, noticed a certain homeless encampment that regularly had $8K bikes lying around. Because a homeless person would certainly possess a six-month-old carbon World Cup race bike. The person went to the camp regularly for a while, with a baseball bat, and retrieved bikes. They had 5 in the garage at one point. Doing so was more hassle, though, once they were in possession, than…

What a sad human being they must be.

Found the bike thief!

Re: My bike was stolen (2017)

#90

Post by bombcar »

avidiax wrote: post #84
bombcar wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Anyone who thinks cops will help recover stolen items has never had an item stolen. If you're really lucky you might get a call back someday on a car.

From what I've heard, you usually don't want a stolen car back. The thieves will not be taking good care of it.

Oh, sure, and sometimes you luck out (if you had insurance) where you get the claim payout and get to keep the crap car (because insurance doesn't want to bother with it). But that's rare.
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