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Seattle vigilante reuniting stolen bikes with their owners

theguardian.com

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Re: Seattle vigilante reuniting stolen bikes with their owners

#101

Post by scurvy »

fiatmoney wrote: post #50
rwmj wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the question of the OP is why don't the police do anything? It is their job after all.

It's their job to do what they're told. If the city government decided Bike Crime was a top priority, cops got promotions based on how many bikes they recaptured, etc. then presumably they would be more active. Conversely, when the government decides it doesn't want a law enforced it's very easy to make that clear. Laws are an excuse to be able to target kinds of activity the government wants to target at the time; i…

So what exactly is the priority of San Francisco, it's DA, and police department? I ask because I haven't been able to figure that out in 20 years of living here.

From what I can tell, the police are good people, but the DA's are generally useless and are only interested in pushing an alternative social agenda as opposed to enforcing the laws passed by previous generations.

Re: Seattle vigilante reuniting stolen bikes with their owners

#103

Post by lostlogin »

chrischen wrote: post #61
mc808 wrote: post #6

I wonder if there is more that bicycle manufacturers/dealers can do to prevent theft or help recover stolen bikes - not because they're obligated but just to improve sales. Especially as the price approaches four digits, "what if this gets stolen?" has to be near the top of most potential buyers' list of concerns and probably chills sales to some degree.

They could implement a system like iPhones (all iPhones register with Apple servers and lock up if reported stolen). Mandatory serial numbers, and make it illegal to purchase or own a bike without a serial number, or to buy a stolen serial number.

If you don't enter the correct passcode the derailed will jam, the tyres go flat, the brakes soft, peddles squeak and the handle bars will be 5 degrees off square. Basically you get my bike.

Re: Seattle vigilante reuniting stolen bikes with their owners

#104

Post by viraptor »

jessaustin wrote: post #65

Of the first 10 or so people he helped, most were from out of town... This rings true to me. I once rented a bike during the second week I lived in a particular city, while I was waiting for my bicycles to be shipped. That bike got stolen, largely thanks to the shitty lock the bike shop included in the rental. I wouldn't be surprised if that shop just bought the bike back from the thief, after charging me the new pri…

Wait, are there bike rentals with no insurance from theft? Most of the places I rented from had some policy about it. Otherwise that just looks like a setup for some protection racket.

Re: Seattle vigilante reuniting stolen bikes with their owners

#105

Post by na85 »

lostlogin wrote: post #98
steve19 wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it's good that as a society we do not lock people up for years for stealing a phone. But I would love to hear from you what we should do of the people who commit assault? What is a woman was punched? or a minority (because they were a minority)? Do you honestly believe that prison for assault does not deter would be assaulters?

What does 4 years in prison create? Is he going to be fixed when he comes out and never do anything bad again?

>What does 4 years in prison create?

In America? Mostly gang members and/or rape victims.

Re: Seattle vigilante reuniting stolen bikes with their owners

#106

Post by x0x0 »

lostlogin wrote: post #100
PKop wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This attitude basically concedes to accepting theft as inevitable, treating this type of crime as something that cannot be avoided. Crime needs to be punished and deterred. An argument can be made that communities where property crime is rampant are not using effective measures to deter criminals. Imagine how many fewer bike thefts there would be if, for example, Seattle put in place caning as a punishment, like in S…

Why is the person stealing? Treat that problem rather than just punish the action. I'm not saying that there should be no punishment, just that long sentences achieve little. I don't think many people would call the US justice system a great success, so what's the harm in trying something a little different?

I support that for nonviolent crime, but when you assault someone, we should aggressively punish. The police and DA were pretty clear: if the dude had just dropped the phone, they wouldn't have had any interest.

Re: Seattle vigilante reuniting stolen bikes with their owners

#107

Post by home_boi »

lostlogin wrote: post #98
steve19 wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it's good that as a society we do not lock people up for years for stealing a phone. But I would love to hear from you what we should do of the people who commit assault? What is a woman was punched? or a minority (because they were a minority)? Do you honestly believe that prison for assault does not deter would be assaulters?

What does 4 years in prison create? Is he going to be fixed when he comes out and never do anything bad again?

Stops him from committing more crimes, at least for 4 years

Re: Seattle vigilante reuniting stolen bikes with their owners

#108

Post by lxmorj »

archgoon wrote: post #62
ck2 wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because the police simply do not care about bike thefts so the criminals know they can get away with it.

Not strictly true; the article details that 'The Batman' actually works in conjunction with the police. It seems more like the case that he's taken on the overhead of investigating and coordinating meetups. Once that's done, the police seem happy to do the actual arrest. However, this sounds like there are some very bad incentives in the PD, where performing arrests is prioritized over investigation. However, I think…

This guy doesn't have a secret weapon the police don't - unless you count 'willingness to put in the time'.

Re: Seattle vigilante reuniting stolen bikes with their owners

#109

Post by 2muchcoffeeman »

CapitalistCartr wrote: post #4
have_faith wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm surprised he let them publish a photo of him at all, the sunglasses aren't going to stop people recognising him.

Plus the article mentions he's a "married engineer, who is in his 30s", a bicycling enthusiast, and six feet, four inches tall. That, combined with the photo, is a pretty thorough description.

Is it really though? Sometimes I don't recognise people I see regularly because I'm only used to seeing them in specific contexts.

The photo here isn't that clear and he's wearing quite large sunglasses. If we put him in jeans, without the glasses and off a bike I'm pretty sure no one who's read the article could pick him out.

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