301–307 of 307 posts
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yes because he was in my neighbor's back yard and there was only one way out unless he could jump a 5' fence. not sure where my neighbor was at the time. she's a french teacher so this guy got off lucky that i got to him first, lol
What would she do to him? Make him conjugate irregular French verbs?
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How is taking your own property back being a bad citizen?
It becomes complicated if the new owner has legitimately bought the bike in a second hand store.
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There are now d-locks that are angle grinder resistant. The reviews I've read suggest they need two cuts to open and each cut uses a full angle grinder disc. As ever, impossible to stop a determined thief, but starting to get "good enough".
Do you have some example links on those locks? Might be interesting to check...
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If you put the bike thieves in jail, sure. And when your e-bike gets stolen, you may well think you want them in jail. But the next week, the New York Times writes an article about how there are too many non-violent offenders in jail and the incarceration crisis is a national shame. Now the e-bike owner is outraged and wants the thief out of jail. It's not trivial to come up with a punishment that will deter the thie…
I don't think it's even about putting them in jail for a long time. The current situation has basically zero downsides to stealing a bike. You take it, you sell it, you have cash. The police don't care, they won't even investigate. If the chances of getting caught for this sort of crime were non-zero, even if the repercussions were a heavy fine, it would hopefully make people think twice before getting involved in it…
Let's say you finally manage to impound his car. Now there's an article about how people's lives are being ruined because of fines and mere misdemeanors. We're back to square one.
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I don't think it's even about putting them in jail for a long time. The current situation has basically zero downsides to stealing a bike. You take it, you sell it, you have cash. The police don't care, they won't even investigate. If the chances of getting caught for this sort of crime were non-zero, even if the repercussions were a heavy fine, it would hopefully make people think twice before getting involved in it…
How do you think a heavy fine works in practice? You tell the bike thief he needs to pay $1000. He doesn't pay. Then what? You garnish the wages from the regular job he doesn't have? (His actual job is bike thief.) You send bounty hunters?! Let's say you finally manage to impound his car. Now there's an article about how people's lives are being ruined because of fines and mere misdemeanors. We're back to square one.
Yeah, I know, that might just be shifting the problem - he could take up online fraud, or burglary, or mugging instead.
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It becomes complicated if the new owner has legitimately bought the bike in a second hand store.
In the Netherlands second hand bicycle stores have to keep records where their bikes come from. A stolen bike shouldn’t end up in a legitimate shop.
No stolen bikes end up in shops, no siree. Yeah right.
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In the Netherlands second hand bicycle stores have to keep records where their bikes come from. A stolen bike shouldn’t end up in a legitimate shop.
Surely we can trust hundreds and hundreds of small business owners to be very strict about law enforcement when it pushes against their financial interests, in a country with more bikes then people. No stolen bikes end up in shops, no siree. Yeah right.
Of course this depends on the police not being lazy which clearly is a big ask but if that is too much any law is pointless.