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Large parts of America seem to still see bikes as "toys" rather than somewhat expensive vehicles that people depend on. Imagine if this approach was taken with

Large parts of America seem to still see bikes as "toys" rather than somewhat expensive vehicles that people depend on. Imagine if this approach was taken with recovered stolen cars too.

dylan604 5y ago
Except, it is almost the exact same with cars. If your car is stolen, there is very little chance the cops will actually help you recover it. If it is impounded, you too get to stand in line during business hours trying to get it back (if you can). At some point, those cars are also sold at auction. Where are you seeing the difference?
- bradlys 5y ago
  Yeah - seriously. I only found my stolen car because someone reported it to the police because the people that were leaving it were being a loud nuisance. Oh yeah - it was already being given parking tickets too. While it was reported stolen. I had to go to the local court in person in order to get the tickets revoked. Law enforcement and the general institution of law does not care.
  - willcipriano 5y ago
    A friend of mine had his car stolen, his ex had a key and wanted to make him mad. We live in a rural area so the sheriff just dropped it off at his house once they recovered it. He even put gas in it and invited us to shoot at his range. I've also seen cops change tires and things like that.
    - bradlys 5y ago
      If you're in a more rural area - it will vary. I grew up with a LEO and in a rural area - so I'm familiar with how some cops will act in rural areas. There's a higher chance that if you're an officer in a rural area - you also live in that specific area that you're policing. Whereas in cities - it's very often that you're policing in a region where you don't vote or live in. Even for people I knew in law enforcement in the rural areas - they didn't like to live in the area they were policing because of the consequences. You're now a local who has to live with the consequences of how you've treated people during your job.
      - reaperducer 5y ago
        This is why in the 1990's there was a big push by cities to require police officers to live in the cities where they work. That was fine for a while, but eventually it got hard for cities to attract new cops, a lot of them removed those rules.
  - ehnto 5y ago
    Mine showed up because it was parked in a side street with the windows down in the rainy season, and an officer on his morning bike ride took a quick peak and saw the keybarell broken. I think there is only so much they can do from a systemic point of view, since they can't put the manpower into looking for them. When they are recovered it's usually because it's related to some other police activity that occurred and it was collateral to that. Same with bikes I think.
    - R0b0t1 5y ago
      The issue is it can end up in an impound lot or tow yard and there seems to be no systematic VIN checking. The car could be auctioned without your knowledge. I always figured it was supposed to not work like this, as the title change is the one place you can catch it, but I guess not? Must be reporting it as abandoned when it really isn't.
      - ehnto 5y ago
        Hm yeah, it would be surprising if a VIN intact car went to auction but I suppose the US has a lot of states and systems to communicate between.
  - agumonkey 5y ago
    There are a lot more incentives to find a car than a bike. The money involved is higher, social risks too (less road kills due to a crazy bike driver). There's also less institutions at play, no rich bike insurance companies. Also most bikes are untraceable unlike car with plate numbers. And logistically it's harder to hide a car somehow (still possible of course). I agree institutions are absurd and don't care enough though.
  - ryantgtg 5y ago
    My stolen scooter (like a vespa) was only “recovered” after the police (or someone) found it totaled on the side of the road. The police then had it shipped to an impound lot. I had to pay the lot $400 for the courtesy of them storing it, and I told them I didn’t want my totaled scooter and they could send it to a salvage yard. My immediate impression was that the police officers were making money off this scenario.
  - Diesel555 5y ago
    > Law enforcement and the general institution of law does not care. TLDR: Don't blame the street-level bureaucrats and everyone in the institution for policy failures. You fail to understand that this is a public policy issue. I bet you the average individual cop does care. I use the term average so people don't resort to extremes (good cop or bad cop). His workload is so high that your issue falls below his threshold. It's not his fault, it's the fault of local public policy. It's undermanned and underfunded. I remember my brother yelling at an Amazon driver for speeding. He's incentivized to do so by his employer. Yes, the driver probably shouldn't speed, but he's also not making very much money and needs this job. His employer is likely more guilty for not providing additional drivers, at cost, to allow safety. But that would be a market imperfection due to externalities which are not regulated (the externality being public safety - the cost of which the private institution generally does not bear). The same type of issue occurrs in the public policy arena, but the failure is on the lack of funding towards a known issue which results in poor services to the public. No, people cannot do more with less with zero losses.
- micromacrofoot 5y ago
  > At some point, those cars are also sold at auction. This is probably a big part of the problem really, why would they care about getting property back to the owners when they can profit from it?
- thaumasiotes 5y ago
  > Except, it is almost the exact same with cars. If your car is stolen, there is very little chance the cops will actually help you recover it. Nothing special about this. If anything of yours is stolen, the cops will not help you recover it.
  - dylan604 5y ago
    Sure. I never meant for it to come across as exlusive. Returning stolen items is just never going to be much of a priority for the police. Unless maybe that stolen item was key to another investigation. Honestly, I don't really think police should be in the business of tracking down stolen items unless finding the items leads them to the theives. So unless the theft of items is under some larger crime, why should cops be on the look out for a bicycle/car/tv/xbox/etc? It's pretty much what insurance is for. Now, I'd much rather the police investigate the crimes committed by insurance companies on not paying out the claims. At least, that should be a crime.
- cafard 5y ago
  We had a car stolen about 15 years ago. It was recovered a day or so later in the next jurisdiction over, and stowed in an impound lot. We drove over on a Saturday to retrieve it. We did have to pay something, but on the whole the retrieval was painless.
- PragmaticPulp 5y ago
  > Except, it is almost the exact same with cars. If your car is stolen, there is very little chance the cops will actually help you recover it. Not the same thing. The parent comment is saying that the police department is getting ahold of the stolen bikes, but not making any effort to return them to their rightful owners. If your stolen car is abandoned somewhere and found by the police, you'll be getting a call ASAP. They're obviously not out there scanning every car on the road to see if it's yours, but if it comes into their possession it's going to find its way back to the registered owner very quickly.
  - throwawaycities 5y ago
    I’ve had a stolen car recovered, I was physically present and called the police. They insistent on towing it away and not letting me take it. Turns out the police have contracts with both the tow company and impound lot and it was not policy just a matter of revenue. I even had video of the police confirming the costs and wouldn’t you know the impound lot jacked up the fee 2x and insisted I pay in cash. It’s a racket and the longer the hold vehicles the more you have to pay, there are vehicles that are abandoned because the impound fee ends up exceed the value of the vehicle (that’s not a joke or exaggeration).
    - R0b0t1 5y ago
      Theft of a vehicle (perhaps a constructed theft or the technical term for theft of a lost item) is almost always a felony, if not because of the item then because of the dollar value. Have you seen any case law in states about shooting tow operators and impound lot operators who steal cars?
- reaperducer 5y ago
  If your car is stolen, there is very little chance the cops will actually help you recover it. I was very surprised to read in a big city newspaper recently that the city's police department had a 70-something percent success rate in recovering stolen cars and returning them to their owners. I was really shocked, because I just assumed that it would be like that scene in The Big Lebowski where the cop laughs when the guy who's car was stolen asks if they have any leads. It turns out that's not the reality at all.
  - lph 5y ago
    Lots of stolen cars are used for joyriding or other crimes and then abandoned. The "recovered" statistic includes a lot of "your car was found six weeks later, trashed, in an industrial parking lot".
    - reaperducer 5y ago
      I don't think anyone is expecting the police department to return a stolen car washed, detailed, and with a new Christmas tree air freshener.
- justtologin 5y ago
  My car was stolen recently, and the day it happened I was told it's most probably already in a shipping container on the way to Haiti or something, and not to expect to get it back. The role of the police seems to be completely administrative rather than actually spending time trying to solve the crime. I expect insurance is the biggest difference between cars and bikes, and if one had theft insurance on the bike, the procedure and interaction with the police would be virtually identical for a bike vs a car
  - Talanes 5y ago
    I had a bike stolen in high school and knew exactly who took it and the police still wouldn't do more than take a report, which they discouraged me from actually doing.
- netizen-936824 5y ago
  That's just because cops don't seem to do anything besides harass people. Solve actual crimes that harm people? Hell no they ain't got time for that
hellbannedguy 5y ago
I really feel they just don't see the importance of retrieving a stolen bike. It dosen't bring in any money. They would rather cruise around and write Revenue Citations? While my BP is up, does anyone see what our local police squads are doing since the Floyd Riots? Perceived pain of dealing with public dissatisfaction with our boys in blue: 1. "Ok---the citizens are on to us. They are angry over abuse, needless pullovers, and the rising price of their tickets we procure when hiding behind hedges?" 2. "By golly they want to defund us? Who's going to pay my slimony, or my subscription to Netfilx? After all I like me Dirty Harry. He's a real man!" 3. "Sarge---how about just not doing anything. I mean less than we did before. We will tell the boys in the bad areas of town to turn a blind eye. Let's watch the crime rate go up? (At this point I don't know if there's a rize in crime. I see the same footage of thieves stealing stuff at Nordstrom's nightly.) 4. People see a perceived rise in crime, and all talk of reform are shelved. There's a 180 shift in public sediment. 5. In the end, more money is thrown at the police. Zero reform. Zero retraining. 6. I have seen this senerio of not doing anything and it seems to work. It used to be called the Blue Flu.

Large parts of America seem to still see bikes as "toys" rather than somewhat expensive vehicles that people depend on. Imagine if this approach was taken with recovered stolen cars too.

dylan604 5y ago

Except, it is almost the exact same with cars. If your car is stolen, there is very little chance the cops will actually help you recover it. If it is impounded, you too get to stand in line during business hours trying to get it back (if you can). At some point, those cars are also sold at auction. Where are you seeing the difference?

bradlys 5y ago
Yeah - seriously. I only found my stolen car because someone reported it to the police because the people that were leaving it were being a loud nuisance. Oh yeah - it was already being given parking tickets too. While it was reported stolen. I had to go to the local court in person in order to get the tickets revoked. Law enforcement and the general institution of law does not care.
- willcipriano 5y ago
  A friend of mine had his car stolen, his ex had a key and wanted to make him mad. We live in a rural area so the sheriff just dropped it off at his house once they recovered it. He even put gas in it and invited us to shoot at his range. I've also seen cops change tires and things like that.
  - bradlys 5y ago
    If you're in a more rural area - it will vary. I grew up with a LEO and in a rural area - so I'm familiar with how some cops will act in rural areas. There's a higher chance that if you're an officer in a rural area - you also live in that specific area that you're policing. Whereas in cities - it's very often that you're policing in a region where you don't vote or live in. Even for people I knew in law enforcement in the rural areas - they didn't like to live in the area they were policing because of the consequences. You're now a local who has to live with the consequences of how you've treated people during your job.
    - reaperducer 5y ago
      This is why in the 1990's there was a big push by cities to require police officers to live in the cities where they work. That was fine for a while, but eventually it got hard for cities to attract new cops, a lot of them removed those rules.
- ehnto 5y ago
  Mine showed up because it was parked in a side street with the windows down in the rainy season, and an officer on his morning bike ride took a quick peak and saw the keybarell broken. I think there is only so much they can do from a systemic point of view, since they can't put the manpower into looking for them. When they are recovered it's usually because it's related to some other police activity that occurred and it was collateral to that. Same with bikes I think.
  - R0b0t1 5y ago
    The issue is it can end up in an impound lot or tow yard and there seems to be no systematic VIN checking. The car could be auctioned without your knowledge. I always figured it was supposed to not work like this, as the title change is the one place you can catch it, but I guess not? Must be reporting it as abandoned when it really isn't.
    - ehnto 5y ago
      Hm yeah, it would be surprising if a VIN intact car went to auction but I suppose the US has a lot of states and systems to communicate between.
- agumonkey 5y ago
  There are a lot more incentives to find a car than a bike. The money involved is higher, social risks too (less road kills due to a crazy bike driver). There's also less institutions at play, no rich bike insurance companies. Also most bikes are untraceable unlike car with plate numbers. And logistically it's harder to hide a car somehow (still possible of course). I agree institutions are absurd and don't care enough though.
- ryantgtg 5y ago
  My stolen scooter (like a vespa) was only “recovered” after the police (or someone) found it totaled on the side of the road. The police then had it shipped to an impound lot. I had to pay the lot $400 for the courtesy of them storing it, and I told them I didn’t want my totaled scooter and they could send it to a salvage yard. My immediate impression was that the police officers were making money off this scenario.
- Diesel555 5y ago
  > Law enforcement and the general institution of law does not care. TLDR: Don't blame the street-level bureaucrats and everyone in the institution for policy failures. You fail to understand that this is a public policy issue. I bet you the average individual cop does care. I use the term average so people don't resort to extremes (good cop or bad cop). His workload is so high that your issue falls below his threshold. It's not his fault, it's the fault of local public policy. It's undermanned and underfunded. I remember my brother yelling at an Amazon driver for speeding. He's incentivized to do so by his employer. Yes, the driver probably shouldn't speed, but he's also not making very much money and needs this job. His employer is likely more guilty for not providing additional drivers, at cost, to allow safety. But that would be a market imperfection due to externalities which are not regulated (the externality being public safety - the cost of which the private institution generally does not bear). The same type of issue occurrs in the public policy arena, but the failure is on the lack of funding towards a known issue which results in poor services to the public. No, people cannot do more with less with zero losses.
micromacrofoot 5y ago
> At some point, those cars are also sold at auction. This is probably a big part of the problem really, why would they care about getting property back to the owners when they can profit from it?
thaumasiotes 5y ago
> Except, it is almost the exact same with cars. If your car is stolen, there is very little chance the cops will actually help you recover it. Nothing special about this. If anything of yours is stolen, the cops will not help you recover it.
- dylan604 5y ago
  Sure. I never meant for it to come across as exlusive. Returning stolen items is just never going to be much of a priority for the police. Unless maybe that stolen item was key to another investigation. Honestly, I don't really think police should be in the business of tracking down stolen items unless finding the items leads them to the theives. So unless the theft of items is under some larger crime, why should cops be on the look out for a bicycle/car/tv/xbox/etc? It's pretty much what insurance is for. Now, I'd much rather the police investigate the crimes committed by insurance companies on not paying out the claims. At least, that should be a crime.
cafard 5y ago
We had a car stolen about 15 years ago. It was recovered a day or so later in the next jurisdiction over, and stowed in an impound lot. We drove over on a Saturday to retrieve it. We did have to pay something, but on the whole the retrieval was painless.
PragmaticPulp 5y ago
> Except, it is almost the exact same with cars. If your car is stolen, there is very little chance the cops will actually help you recover it. Not the same thing. The parent comment is saying that the police department is getting ahold of the stolen bikes, but not making any effort to return them to their rightful owners. If your stolen car is abandoned somewhere and found by the police, you'll be getting a call ASAP. They're obviously not out there scanning every car on the road to see if it's yours, but if it comes into their possession it's going to find its way back to the registered owner very quickly.
- throwawaycities 5y ago
  I’ve had a stolen car recovered, I was physically present and called the police. They insistent on towing it away and not letting me take it. Turns out the police have contracts with both the tow company and impound lot and it was not policy just a matter of revenue. I even had video of the police confirming the costs and wouldn’t you know the impound lot jacked up the fee 2x and insisted I pay in cash. It’s a racket and the longer the hold vehicles the more you have to pay, there are vehicles that are abandoned because the impound fee ends up exceed the value of the vehicle (that’s not a joke or exaggeration).
  - R0b0t1 5y ago
    Theft of a vehicle (perhaps a constructed theft or the technical term for theft of a lost item) is almost always a felony, if not because of the item then because of the dollar value. Have you seen any case law in states about shooting tow operators and impound lot operators who steal cars?
reaperducer 5y ago
If your car is stolen, there is very little chance the cops will actually help you recover it. I was very surprised to read in a big city newspaper recently that the city's police department had a 70-something percent success rate in recovering stolen cars and returning them to their owners. I was really shocked, because I just assumed that it would be like that scene in The Big Lebowski where the cop laughs when the guy who's car was stolen asks if they have any leads. It turns out that's not the reality at all.
- lph 5y ago
  Lots of stolen cars are used for joyriding or other crimes and then abandoned. The "recovered" statistic includes a lot of "your car was found six weeks later, trashed, in an industrial parking lot".
  - reaperducer 5y ago
    I don't think anyone is expecting the police department to return a stolen car washed, detailed, and with a new Christmas tree air freshener.
justtologin 5y ago
My car was stolen recently, and the day it happened I was told it's most probably already in a shipping container on the way to Haiti or something, and not to expect to get it back. The role of the police seems to be completely administrative rather than actually spending time trying to solve the crime. I expect insurance is the biggest difference between cars and bikes, and if one had theft insurance on the bike, the procedure and interaction with the police would be virtually identical for a bike vs a car
- Talanes 5y ago
  I had a bike stolen in high school and knew exactly who took it and the police still wouldn't do more than take a report, which they discouraged me from actually doing.
netizen-936824 5y ago
That's just because cops don't seem to do anything besides harass people. Solve actual crimes that harm people? Hell no they ain't got time for that

hellbannedguy 5y ago

I really feel they just don't see the importance of retrieving a stolen bike. It dosen't bring in any money. They would rather cruise around and write Revenue Citations? While my BP is up, does anyone see what our local police squads are doing since the Floyd Riots? Perceived pain of dealing with public dissatisfaction with our boys in blue: 1. "Ok---the citizens are on to us. They are angry over abuse, needless pullovers, and the rising price of their tickets we procure when hiding behind hedges?" 2. "By golly they want to defund us? Who's going to pay my slimony, or my subscription to Netfilx? After all I like me Dirty Harry. He's a real man!" 3. "Sarge---how about just not doing anything. I mean less than we did before. We will tell the boys in the bad areas of town to turn a blind eye. Let's watch the crime rate go up? (At this point I don't know if there's a rize in crime. I see the same footage of thieves stealing stuff at Nordstrom's nightly.) 4. People see a perceived rise in crime, and all talk of reform are shelved. There's a 180 shift in public sediment. 5. In the end, more money is thrown at the police. Zero reform. Zero retraining. 6. I have seen this senerio of not doing anything and it seems to work. It used to be called the Blue Flu.