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This makes a lot of unfounded assumptions about what the police can and would do. There's not a lot the police can do after a bike is stolen within proportion t

by hnbad 5y ago

This makes a lot of unfounded assumptions about what the police can and would do. There's not a lot the police can do after a bike is stolen within proportion to the value of the stolen bike and bikes are both easy to steal and easy to scrap for parts (that are practically untraceable in most cases). So what do you end up with? More police patrols in "high crime" neighborhoods and more "spot checks" (a la stop and frisk), both approaches that have been demonstrative failures for decades but satisfy the political pressure to "do something". A better long-term solution would be to reduce the need for policing by mending the socioeconomic conditions that result in bike theft. Rampant bike theft isn't a global issue and is actually less of an issue in some countries that have a lot more bikes on the streets per person than any city in the US does. The difference isn't better policing. Aside from the fringe issue of organized crime, most bike theft is associated with addicts trying to make a quick buck to buy drugs and we already know police isn't the answer to reducing drug addiction.

carlospwk 5y ago
>This makes a lot of unfounded assumptions about what the police can and would do. In a lot of places they do absolutely nothing. A lot of bikes show up on sale on places like FB Marketplace shortly after they're stolen, cops could easily go set up meetings with these thieves if they wanted to. You can have god knows how much evidence or pictures or whatever of the thief but they do nothing. If I was selling stolen cars online, they'd be allover me, but bikes don't matter apparently. >There's not a lot the police can do after a bike is stolen within proportion to the value of the stolen bike and bikes are both easy to steal and easy to scrap for parts (that are practically untraceable in most cases). Sure, if you look at the value of a single bike this is true. But generally professional bike thieves steal multiple bikes and it ads up. Here in Finland, in 2020 insurance companies paid 11 million euros worth of compensation for stolen bikes. And that's just the ones which were reported & still worth something.
robbie-c 5y ago
There's other things they can do rather than just more patrols. At my university town in the UK the police would plant bait bikes and watch from afar, arresting thieves after they rode off. I know they caught some, because they caught someone from one of my lectures.
- hnbad 5y ago
  That works against organized crime (and only until they wisen up to the practice and learn to spot bait bikes or the cops planting them) but not against people stealing bikes for a quick buck. If you're at that point in your life where you steal bikes to sell them for a little bit of cash, the risk of a bike being bait doesn't seem like much of a deterrent. It's also not scalable, which means decisions will have to be made about where it is implemented, which will likely prioritize wealthier areas over poorer ones.

by hnbad 5y ago

carlospwk 5y ago

>This makes a lot of unfounded assumptions about what the police can and would do. In a lot of places they do absolutely nothing. A lot of bikes show up on sale on places like FB Marketplace shortly after they're stolen, cops could easily go set up meetings with these thieves if they wanted to. You can have god knows how much evidence or pictures or whatever of the thief but they do nothing. If I was selling stolen cars online, they'd be allover me, but bikes don't matter apparently. >There's not a lot the police can do after a bike is stolen within proportion to the value of the stolen bike and bikes are both easy to steal and easy to scrap for parts (that are practically untraceable in most cases). Sure, if you look at the value of a single bike this is true. But generally professional bike thieves steal multiple bikes and it ads up. Here in Finland, in 2020 insurance companies paid 11 million euros worth of compensation for stolen bikes. And that's just the ones which were reported & still worth something.

robbie-c 5y ago

There's other things they can do rather than just more patrols. At my university town in the UK the police would plant bait bikes and watch from afar, arresting thieves after they rode off. I know they caught some, because they caught someone from one of my lectures.

hnbad 5y ago
That works against organized crime (and only until they wisen up to the practice and learn to spot bait bikes or the cops planting them) but not against people stealing bikes for a quick buck. If you're at that point in your life where you steal bikes to sell them for a little bit of cash, the risk of a bike being bait doesn't seem like much of a deterrent. It's also not scalable, which means decisions will have to be made about where it is implemented, which will likely prioritize wealthier areas over poorer ones.