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Where do stolen bikes go?

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Re: Where do stolen bikes go?

#131

Post by icelancer »

maximinus_thrax wrote: post #52
denton-scratch wrote: post #30

I had a £2,000 electric bike stolen in Oxford. No worries - it had a GPS tracker, and I could see it heading to Birmingham up the M40. Also, my neighbour had CCTV footage. You couldn't make out the faces or number-plate, but you could see it was a black Mercedes. It was taken at about 3AM. So they had "liberated" the bike (it was locked up), and immediately headed out of town. I'm sure it was scouted, then they came…

> They weren't interested - they told me to contact West Midlands police. So I rang them. No, they were not going to investigate: "Don't you realize how many Porsches are stolen in this city every day?" Also, they said they can't just walk in and have a look around (I guess they need a warrant, which is fair enough; but then why not get a warrant?) I've seen/heard this numerous times. Cops really don't give a shit ab…

>> Cops really don't give a shit about theft unless it's from a business.

Have had my place of home and work both burglarized. The difference is that at work they show up, take tons of notes, interview you and your employees, and then ignore you.

I vastly prefer the home burglary experience. At least they're honest about not caring. Both times I had 1080p footage with clear vision of the thieves and cars. Jack shit done about it.

Rinse, repeat, and most people don't even report crimes anymore. Tada! Crime is now "going down."

Re: Where do stolen bikes go?

#132

Post by jamiek88 »

denton-scratch wrote: post #30

I had a £2,000 electric bike stolen in Oxford. No worries - it had a GPS tracker, and I could see it heading to Birmingham up the M40. Also, my neighbour had CCTV footage. You couldn't make out the faces or number-plate, but you could see it was a black Mercedes. It was taken at about 3AM. So they had "liberated" the bike (it was locked up), and immediately headed out of town. I'm sure it was scouted, then they came…

I’d have just gone and got it with ten of my mates. For real. Funny how upbringings are different. I grew up in a council estate in Liverpool and no way we’d stand for that shit we’d go to war.

Your way is better.

Re: Where do stolen bikes go?

#133

Post by Gigachad »

none_to_remain wrote: post #123
ornornor wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have an airtag on mine but I’m not super convinced it will make a difference: - whenever I pick up the bike to ride it after a long period of not using it (say overnight or after a day of work), the airtag starts ringing. I don’t know why it does that but it would for sure tip the thief off - don’t iPhones and maybe androids now show some kind of notification and offer to disable the tag if a tag you don’t own star…

I bet those AirTag dealies don't include any mechanism that disables themselves if the speaker is physically defeated

They don't. And you can silence them with any amount of pressure on the outer case.

Re: Where do stolen bikes go?

#134

Post by prawn »

maximinus_thrax wrote: post #97
dahart wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Cops really don’t give a shit about theft unless it’s from a business. My only experience with police and bike theft is the opposite; they police were helpful and recovered my bike. When I first called them they even suggested that I make initial contact with the thief and they’d be there to support the sting, which surprised me a lot! I found the bike a couple of weeks after it was stolen when the thief posted it…

I'm also in the western, US (the PNW) and my bike was stolen a couple of years back. It had a sticker and a registration number from my apartment building, which they called and left their phone number saying they found the bike abandoned and want to return it. I called the number, and they told me to meet up somewhere in a relatively rough neighborhood. I told them I would love to meet up in front of a police precin…

Isn't that incredible. It's almost "We can't go with you to that place and investigate a crime because a crime might happen!"

I'm not from the US and I've only ever had positive interactions with police, but cases like this which would be low effort for them and have a useful impact on petty crime in their region, seem very frustrating.

Re: Where do stolen bikes go?

#135

Post by prawn »

denton-scratch wrote: post #86
LorenPechtel wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And the homeowner is the occupant?? Probably not. Criminals like to move around. I do have a big problem with the police ignoring cases handed them on a sliver platter even if they are minor, though. Doing this makes it effectively legal to commit said crime.

> Doing this makes it effectively legal to commit said crime. Yeah. The same thing happens with bankster's frauds. The difference is that a fraud case is very costly to investigate and prosecute; in this case, as you put it, I gave it to them on a silver platter. And I'd bet that they'd have recovered dozens of expensive bikes if they'd raided it, and solved at least dozens of open cases.

AND limit future thefts by the same people, and likely dissuade future thieves.

Re: Where do stolen bikes go?

#136

Post by wyager »

ch4s3 wrote: post #63
nerdponx wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good reminder that the assertion "police exist to protect private property" is incomplete. They protect certain private property, but in general not your private property.

Police in the US seem to exist to perpetuate the institution of policing and secondarily to prosecute the drug war. Everything else seems to compete for priority 3.

This is true of most "public servant" roles. TSA employees, public school teachers, etc. - none of them, as a class, have the nominal productive capability of their job as the highest priority.

Re: Where do stolen bikes go?

#137

Post by wyager »

baremetal wrote: post #58
nerdponx wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good reminder that the assertion "police exist to protect private property" is incomplete. They protect certain private property, but in general not your private property.

Also: you are not allowed to protect your own property. Call the police instead.

Anarcho-tyranny: the police will not enforce the law, but they will punish you if you enforce it yourself.

Re: Where do stolen bikes go?

#138

Post by JackAndJack »

For all who are up in arms about police not doing their job. It is almost always the same crowd, that boo the officers for doing their job when they have to use force.

Guess people are afraid to go in rough neighborhood to retrieve their own property and police is not coming with them because they know they will have to use force to get job done. And when they actually use force, everyone including those whose property is stolen go up in arms, how can you do use that force? That is the simple reason police does not care. In cities like Baltimore and Minneapolis they even ignore shootings and murder because of woke agenda in the city as they know they will be punished for doing their jobs.

Well, may this be a lesson for those whose property is stolen and those who are shocked by no response from police, that going in rough parts of town and meeting criminals does not go very well with please and thankyou. You should be ready and willing to use force which most of the times is necessary.

Re: Where do stolen bikes go?

#139

Post by netsharc »

blamazon wrote: post #47
isoprophlex wrote: post #10

Once I lost a bike that was parked right outside my house. Couple of days later I saw a guy ride around on my bike! I sprinted over and somewhat aggressively yelled "you're on my bike, buddy!" He got off, very politely handed me back my bike, and thanked me for letting him borrow it. Almost made me feel like I was the bad guy in the situation. Anyway I guess in some cases, a stolen bike doesn't go far at all.

I had a ratty bike in college that I never bothered to lock to the bike racks, because I had bought it very cheaply and I had insufficient money to repair it properly. Almost everything that could be broken while still remaining technically rideable, was broken. One day - gone! I breathed a sigh of relief and went about my day. Two years pass. I'm walking to class one day on the same campus and I see a very similar l…

> In a ship of Theseus kind of way it wasn't even truly my bike anymore.

Behold, the bicycle of Theseus. If you stole it back could you say "arguably, this isn't theft!"? But I guess a judge would say you stole the parts of the bike that the new owner fitted.

Re: Where do stolen bikes go?

#140

Post by prawn »

jackmott42 wrote: post #42
quacked wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Almost made me feel like I was the bad guy in the situation. Many people who choose to live outside square-lawed society rely on people remaining docile and sticking to principle in order to prey on them, or at least to live a lifestyle where they don't have to collaborate with larger society to reap its rewards. It took me years to un-program "assume good intent and empathy" with people I didn't know that were try…

Yeah, every homeless person I have ever talked to has had some bullshit story. Its almost as if the impulse to spew bullshit is the primary cause of homelessness. Or some inevitable consequence of most mental health problems. Its so reliable that it makes me question the idea that housing costs are the primary cause of homelessness, but perhaps that just pushes more people on the mental margins over the edge.

My hunch is that talking about your problem can be easier than dealing with it. And people, even capable working homeowners develop a serious expertise in analysing what they should but don't do. I often notice myself doing it.
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