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What happens in practice, is that police stop investigating most crimes where there isn't good CCTV coverage. The cost-benefit tradeoff is much more favourable

What happens in practice, is that police stop investigating most crimes where there isn't good CCTV coverage. The cost-benefit tradeoff is much more favourable in surveillance conditions. After a while, the public learns that if they want the police to do something about thefts and robbery, they need to support more cameras. (Victim of one motorbike-jacking, one attempted motorbike jacking and 5 separate motorcycle thefts in London.)

mikepurvis 5y ago
I guess I've never been a victim of a major crime, but to the extent that I've been a victim of minor ones (like being harassed or swerved at by drivers while on my bike commute), I've never had success getting an action out of the police even when I can supply helmet cam footage clearly showing the incident. So I can imagine that a person without CCTV footage on their side might be especially inclined to despair, but these experiences have led me to question the worthwhileness of crime-reporting in general.
- summm 5y ago
  This is a bit special, because you are not real traffic, and in general a nuisance to real traffic. Many police officials still hate bikes.
  - mikepurvis 5y ago
    Yeah, definitely. And a number of the cases I've tried to report have indeed been scenarios where a bike lane actually exists but cars are using it for various purposes— to park in, as a right-side passing lane, as a right-turn lane. Most of which I wouldn't even mind; it's actually correct behaviour to block the bike lane when making a right turn so that you don't accidentally clip a cyclist when making your turn— but it's not correct behaviour to honk at a bike in the bike lane to get out of the way so you can make your right turn, nor is it correct to drive one off the road so you can swerve into the bike lane and use it to pass a column of five cars before your right turn.
vkou 5y ago
> What happens in practice, is that police stop investigating most crimes where there isn't good CCTV coverage. The police straight-up don't investigate property crime committed against private individuals, regardless of whether or not CCTV was involved. They write you up a report that you can take to your insurer. This process saves everyone time and money - you, the cops, the courts, the criminal...
- barrkel 5y ago
  Third party insurance, since theft insurance was too expensive. It's not like a claim would make the insurance cheaper. There's no upside in making the yearly premium £1000+ for a bike worth £2000 or so. It's not quite true that they did nothing. A couple of times they dusted for prints, leaving silvery powder residue. After they found some of my bikes, they moved them into compounds where I had to pay a vehicle transport to get them back. Mostly what they do is write up advice on how to contact Victim Support.

mikepurvis 5y ago

I guess I've never been a victim of a major crime, but to the extent that I've been a victim of minor ones (like being harassed or swerved at by drivers while on my bike commute), I've never had success getting an action out of the police even when I can supply helmet cam footage clearly showing the incident. So I can imagine that a person without CCTV footage on their side might be especially inclined to despair, but these experiences have led me to question the worthwhileness of crime-reporting in general.

summm 5y ago
This is a bit special, because you are not real traffic, and in general a nuisance to real traffic. Many police officials still hate bikes.
- mikepurvis 5y ago
  Yeah, definitely. And a number of the cases I've tried to report have indeed been scenarios where a bike lane actually exists but cars are using it for various purposes— to park in, as a right-side passing lane, as a right-turn lane. Most of which I wouldn't even mind; it's actually correct behaviour to block the bike lane when making a right turn so that you don't accidentally clip a cyclist when making your turn— but it's not correct behaviour to honk at a bike in the bike lane to get out of the way so you can make your right turn, nor is it correct to drive one off the road so you can swerve into the bike lane and use it to pass a column of five cars before your right turn.

vkou 5y ago

> What happens in practice, is that police stop investigating most crimes where there isn't good CCTV coverage. The police straight-up don't investigate property crime committed against private individuals, regardless of whether or not CCTV was involved. They write you up a report that you can take to your insurer. This process saves everyone time and money - you, the cops, the courts, the criminal...

barrkel 5y ago
Third party insurance, since theft insurance was too expensive. It's not like a claim would make the insurance cheaper. There's no upside in making the yearly premium £1000+ for a bike worth £2000 or so. It's not quite true that they did nothing. A couple of times they dusted for prints, leaving silvery powder residue. After they found some of my bikes, they moved them into compounds where I had to pay a vehicle transport to get them back. Mostly what they do is write up advice on how to contact Victim Support.