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Was there a glorious past when bike thefts were taken seriously? Or is there also an element of a widening gap between rich and poor here, where the rich will

Was there a glorious past when bike thefts were taken seriously? Or is there also an element of a widening gap between rich and poor here, where the rich will be further insulated from the impact of failing public services?

Eric_WVGG 4y ago
this line rankled me: "baffled city leaders for years" as if city leaders have ever considered cyclists anything more than an annoyance
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
pessimizer 4y ago
Never. It's even odd when burglaries were taken seriously. I don't know the mythical past that reactionaries reminisce about, although my age says that I lived through it. The past I remember had years old stacks of unprocessed rape kits.
- KennyBlanken 4y ago
  Rape kits go unprocessed for many reasons. The accused confesses, for example, or dies. Or the victim's story/claims are directly contradicted by hard evidence, like cell phone/financial records or numerous witnesses placing the accused somewhere else. Many victims recant their stories, for varied reasons, many of them unfortunate - but that still make the case non-prosecutable. It's not just a matter of funding; there's only so much lab capacity. Rape is a tiny fraction of violent crime - barely a few percent - and spending millions processing rape kits unnecessarily is virtue signaling that does nothing to reduce the bulk of violent crime. The only reason it's getting so much attention is because it benefits a politically privileged class.
  - nkrisc 4y ago
    > It's not just a matter of funding; there's only so much lab capacity. Lab capacity is a matter of funding.
    - astrange 4y ago
      Some things cost infinite money to do in x time, but would be free if you waited longer or got rid of the regulation making it impossible to do. (i.e. you could have more lab employees if housing was cheaper.)
parkingrift 4y ago
I don’t know. Hard to answer. However, there is a stolen bike store near where I live, everyone knows they sell bikes they’ve stolen, they’ve been busted selling stolen bikes multiple times, and they’re still in business today. Perhaps this has always been true, but it feels as if we’ve completely given up against low level crime.
asdff 4y ago
There was certainly a past where there were fewer open addicts on the streets. To be fair drug addicts have been around in cities for hundreds of years, but they've always been cracked down upon and generally not in any great numbers. Versus today, where I kid you not I see kids who can't be older than 16 smoking meth about twice a week in the train station on my way to work. Of course there is a crisis of bike theft in this country. There is also a crisis of catalytic converter theft and theft of just about anything carryable with scrap value, because all of this theft is going on to afford the crisis of drug addiction we continue to evidently just pretend does not exist in this country versus face head on with public treatment programs and institutionalization.

Eric_WVGG 4y ago

this line rankled me: "baffled city leaders for years" as if city leaders have ever considered cyclists anything more than an annoyance

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]

pessimizer 4y ago

Never. It's even odd when burglaries were taken seriously. I don't know the mythical past that reactionaries reminisce about, although my age says that I lived through it. The past I remember had years old stacks of unprocessed rape kits.

KennyBlanken 4y ago
Rape kits go unprocessed for many reasons. The accused confesses, for example, or dies. Or the victim's story/claims are directly contradicted by hard evidence, like cell phone/financial records or numerous witnesses placing the accused somewhere else. Many victims recant their stories, for varied reasons, many of them unfortunate - but that still make the case non-prosecutable. It's not just a matter of funding; there's only so much lab capacity. Rape is a tiny fraction of violent crime - barely a few percent - and spending millions processing rape kits unnecessarily is virtue signaling that does nothing to reduce the bulk of violent crime. The only reason it's getting so much attention is because it benefits a politically privileged class.
- nkrisc 4y ago
  > It's not just a matter of funding; there's only so much lab capacity. Lab capacity is a matter of funding.
  - astrange 4y ago
    Some things cost infinite money to do in x time, but would be free if you waited longer or got rid of the regulation making it impossible to do. (i.e. you could have more lab employees if housing was cheaper.)

parkingrift 4y ago

I don’t know. Hard to answer. However, there is a stolen bike store near where I live, everyone knows they sell bikes they’ve stolen, they’ve been busted selling stolen bikes multiple times, and they’re still in business today. Perhaps this has always been true, but it feels as if we’ve completely given up against low level crime.

asdff 4y ago

There was certainly a past where there were fewer open addicts on the streets. To be fair drug addicts have been around in cities for hundreds of years, but they've always been cracked down upon and generally not in any great numbers. Versus today, where I kid you not I see kids who can't be older than 16 smoking meth about twice a week in the train station on my way to work. Of course there is a crisis of bike theft in this country. There is also a crisis of catalytic converter theft and theft of just about anything carryable with scrap value, because all of this theft is going on to afford the crisis of drug addiction we continue to evidently just pretend does not exist in this country versus face head on with public treatment programs and institutionalization.