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If your bike or car gets stolen I hope you don’t involve the police in your “petty civil matter”.

by erentz 8y ago

dsfyu404ed 8y ago
There is a big difference between theft and the "hoarding" described in this article. The scooters are used with permission. It's not much different than bringing a rental back late from a legal perspective. It just so happens that the scooter rental company hasn't set up its business in a way that vies people enough incentive to return them in the desired manner and time frame.
ticmasta 8y ago
If your privately-owned scooter got stolen you'd be lucky to get the police do more than give you a case number. Good luck getting a detective to prioritize your case!
- erentz 8y ago
  Having dealt with stolen property I know this pain. Certainly if Bird can change the incentives so this behavior isn’t rewarded (which seems feasible, see my other reply) then all the better. But if people are taking 20+ scooters off the street without checking them out I don’t see a problem with reporting this and asking for police assistance. I do think Bird should definitely warn everyone first that they know what is going on and will begin to involve the police if it continues so people can have the chance to avoid that mess.
pjc50 8y ago
It's not even clear that these scooters are really stolen - Bird asked people to remove them from the street to their own property and charge them, it's just that people are being slow about it. Most theft laws require "intent to permanently deprive" or similar.
- erentz 8y ago
  It was my understanding from the article and other commenters that these hoarders were taking the scooters without checking them out on the app, waiting for their charge reward to rise, then checking them out to charge at that point. If so it’s the taking them without checking them out part that is clearly the problem here. Come to think of it this might present an easier solution for Bird. If the scooter is moved without being checked out, it’s charger reward price should be frozen at whatever it was at that time. That can be reset after some period to account for cases where the scooter is moved by a non hoarder, possibly also checking to make sure there are less than N other scooters in a 50m radius to identify those cases where the scooter was moved and dumped on its own and really does need a properly incentivized charger to go find it.
kaybe 8y ago
Good luck getting the police to do anything about your stolen bike. If you're lucky it will end up in the database of stolen bikes and if they come across a stolen bike by accident they might check that database. I haven't personally heard of any bikes retrieved by the police so far.
eeeeeeeeeeeee 8y ago
You seriously think it’s a good use of government resources to have police tracking down electronic scooters that cost a under $1000? Seriously?

If your bike or car gets stolen I hope you don’t involve the police in your “petty civil matter”.

by erentz 8y ago

If your bike or car gets stolen I hope you don’t involve the police in your “petty civil matter”.

There is a big difference between theft and the "hoarding" described in this article. The scooters are used with permission. It's not much different than bringing a rental back late from a legal perspective. It just so happens that the scooter rental company hasn't set up its business in a way that vies people enough incentive to return them in the desired manner and time frame.

ticmasta 8y ago

If your privately-owned scooter got stolen you'd be lucky to get the police do more than give you a case number. Good luck getting a detective to prioritize your case!

erentz 8y ago
Having dealt with stolen property I know this pain. Certainly if Bird can change the incentives so this behavior isn’t rewarded (which seems feasible, see my other reply) then all the better. But if people are taking 20+ scooters off the street without checking them out I don’t see a problem with reporting this and asking for police assistance. I do think Bird should definitely warn everyone first that they know what is going on and will begin to involve the police if it continues so people can have the chance to avoid that mess.

pjc50 8y ago

It's not even clear that these scooters are really stolen - Bird asked people to remove them from the street to their own property and charge them, it's just that people are being slow about it. Most theft laws require "intent to permanently deprive" or similar.

erentz 8y ago
It was my understanding from the article and other commenters that these hoarders were taking the scooters without checking them out on the app, waiting for their charge reward to rise, then checking them out to charge at that point. If so it’s the taking them without checking them out part that is clearly the problem here. Come to think of it this might present an easier solution for Bird. If the scooter is moved without being checked out, it’s charger reward price should be frozen at whatever it was at that time. That can be reset after some period to account for cases where the scooter is moved by a non hoarder, possibly also checking to make sure there are less than N other scooters in a 50m radius to identify those cases where the scooter was moved and dumped on its own and really does need a properly incentivized charger to go find it.

kaybe 8y ago

Good luck getting the police to do anything about your stolen bike. If you're lucky it will end up in the database of stolen bikes and if they come across a stolen bike by accident they might check that database. I haven't personally heard of any bikes retrieved by the police so far.

eeeeeeeeeeeee 8y ago

You seriously think it’s a good use of government resources to have police tracking down electronic scooters that cost a under $1000? Seriously?