5 ms·

They do decoy bikes, e.g. here's a news article about a thief being caught by police stealing a decoy bike for the second time in 6 months published just 3 days

by avar 9y ago

They do decoy bikes, e.g. here's a news article about a thief being caught by police stealing a decoy bike for the second time in 6 months published just 3 days ago (in Dutch, but it Google Translates): http://www.nhnieuws.nl/nieuws/207931/Fietsendief-in-Amsterdam-neemt-voor-tweede-keer-lokfiets-van-politie-mee http://www.nhnieuws.nl/nieuws/207931/Fietsendief-in-Amsterda... The problem is that the police have other stuff to do, and they might as well be pissing in the wind with the amount of bike theft here. They could do a huge crackdown, but that's unsustainable and after the crackdown we'll be right back to the same theft rate. Interestingly there was a case this year (currently going through appeals) where a judge ruled that a man stealing a bicycle in a residential neighborhood should be found not guilty because the police had created the circumstances of the bike's theft: http://www.dutchnews.nl/news/archives/2016/01/decoy-bikes-should-not-be-too-tempting-say-judges/ http://www.dutchnews.nl/news/archives/2016/01/decoy-bikes-sh... It's unclear what that means for bicycle entrapment in general, but an article in Parool (again, in Dutch) suggested that this may have implications for the methods of the Amsterdam police depending on how it goes: http://www.parool.nl/parool/nl/4/AMSTERDAM/article/detail/4221116/2016/01/08/Mogelijk-einde-aan-lokfiets-als-opsporingsmiddel.dhtml http://www.parool.nl/parool/nl/4/AMSTERDAM/article/detail/42...

ZenoArrow 9y ago
> "The problem is that the police have other stuff to do, and they might as well be pissing in the wind with the amount of bike theft here. They could do a huge crackdown, but that's unsustainable and after the crackdown we'll be right back to the same theft rate." How about using CCTV at bicycle locking points? Combined with satellite imagery it should be a relatively non-resource intensive way to catch the thiefs. Of course, there's still the question of whether a surveillance-based solution is worse than the crime it's meant to address.
- krageon 9y ago
  Let's not turn Dutch cities into another example of the horrifying panopticon that UK cities have become.
  - funnyfacts365 9y ago
    Dude, they already are. Cameras everywhere
- avar 9y ago
  CCTV is heavily restricted in The Netherlands, and you need to post a prominent sign in any public place that's under CCTV surveillance, this would obviously make it ineffective to catch thieves.
- coldtea 9y ago
  >How about using CCTV at bicycle locking points? Now you have two problems -- and a freezing cold wind coming in from the wide open Overton window.
dankohn1 9y ago
>They could do a huge crackdown, but that's unsustainable and after the crackdown we'll be right back to the same theft rate. Actually, there's evidence that a sustained crackdown can succeed in changing norms. I believe that the biking rate in Copenhagen is almost as high as Amsterdam but the theft rate is far lower. Norms matter. Here's an example: http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2012/10/15/buenos_aires_dog_doo_argentina_s_capital_has_a_lot_of_pet_excrement_everywhere.html http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2012/10/15/buenos_aires_...

by avar 9y ago

ZenoArrow 9y ago

> "The problem is that the police have other stuff to do, and they might as well be pissing in the wind with the amount of bike theft here. They could do a huge crackdown, but that's unsustainable and after the crackdown we'll be right back to the same theft rate." How about using CCTV at bicycle locking points? Combined with satellite imagery it should be a relatively non-resource intensive way to catch the thiefs. Of course, there's still the question of whether a surveillance-based solution is worse than the crime it's meant to address.

krageon 9y ago
Let's not turn Dutch cities into another example of the horrifying panopticon that UK cities have become.
- funnyfacts365 9y ago
  Dude, they already are. Cameras everywhere
avar 9y ago
CCTV is heavily restricted in The Netherlands, and you need to post a prominent sign in any public place that's under CCTV surveillance, this would obviously make it ineffective to catch thieves.
coldtea 9y ago
>How about using CCTV at bicycle locking points? Now you have two problems -- and a freezing cold wind coming in from the wide open Overton window.

dankohn1 9y ago

>They could do a huge crackdown, but that's unsustainable and after the crackdown we'll be right back to the same theft rate. Actually, there's evidence that a sustained crackdown can succeed in changing norms. I believe that the biking rate in Copenhagen is almost as high as Amsterdam but the theft rate is far lower. Norms matter. Here's an example: http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2012/10/15/buenos_aires_dog_doo_argentina_s_capital_has_a_lot_of_pet_excrement_everywhere.html http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2012/10/15/buenos_aires_...