11 ms·

You just call the police, say it is your bike, they verify the serial number (you need to provide some proof, or register the theft prior). Then, if everything

You just call the police, say it is your bike, they verify the serial number (you need to provide some proof, or register the theft prior). Then, if everything is in order, police just cut the lock.

swarnie 4y ago
I wonder what country this actually works in? Our police had a policy of not attending house burglaries with odd street numbers to cut their required response rate in half. I can't imagine them even answering the phone over a bike. The only reason i would call the police is to get a reference number for an insurance claim.
- Symbiote 4y ago
  At least for a short while, and I do not understand why, bicycle theft was somehow linked to terrorism by London's police. See [1] for example. I had a bicycle stolen, and after filing the report the police phoned me to ask for more details on the lock I'd used. I later found it on Gumtree, with a description ending something like "Call Peter on 07123456789, meet at Forest Heath Station". Putting the mobile phone number into Gumtree's search brought up about 50 bicycles, "Call John" "Call Dave" etc. I emailed this to the police, and had another phone call thanking me for my incredible investigation skill. They said they would go to find Peter/John/Dave, but would only contact me again if they found my bike, which they did not. I'm very suspicious of accounts like [2] "Mr T" with "Cash only" and a huge selection of bicycles. [1] https://www.bikeregister.com/news/putting-a-value-on-protected-bikes https://www.bikeregister.com/news/putting-a-value-on-protect... [2] https://www.gumtree.com/profile/accounts/48e9b2ff00d3f04e27fe0c08d270eb1e https://www.gumtree.com/profile/accounts/48e9b2ff00d3f04e27f... or similarly https://www.gumtree.com/profile/accounts/b8b756750f2960d115bd4ca22b99553e https://www.gumtree.com/profile/accounts/b8b756750f2960d115b...
  - swarnie 4y ago
    That first Gumtree link is absolutely insane. It looks like a full time job for multiple people.
  - jstarfish 4y ago
    > At least for a short while, and I do not understand why, bicycle theft was somehow linked to terrorism by London's police. Counter-Terrorism Patrol Unit. IME speculation: for security-adjacent personnel, recovery efforts (equipment, fraud, etc.) are a great way to quantify the work you do when you don't otherwise generate revenue. You can't take credit for disrupting events that didn't happen [because you intervened], but nobody can argue with you recovering or clawing back $x in lost/stolen assets. They were probably tasked with patrolling for misplaced explosives and other drama, but since incident count is low, they were given supplementary tasks (like tagging bikes they come across on patrol) to justify their salary and foster positive PR.
- diceduckmonk 4y ago
  Japan. All bikes must be registered with the local government. Bikes are one of the things police are vigilant about bikes. Police routinely pull over cyclists, especially if you’re a foreigner, to confirm you are the owner of the bike. Driving a bicycle while intoxicated is also treated just like driving a car. Electric bikes going 25km an hour or faster, or have larger than a 250watt battery needs to be registered as a motor vehicle. You’ll need a driver’s license, insurance, etc.

You just call the police, say it is your bike, they verify the serial number (you need to provide some proof, or register the theft prior). Then, if everything is in order, police just cut the lock.

swarnie 4y ago

I wonder what country this actually works in? Our police had a policy of not attending house burglaries with odd street numbers to cut their required response rate in half. I can't imagine them even answering the phone over a bike. The only reason i would call the police is to get a reference number for an insurance claim.

Symbiote 4y ago
At least for a short while, and I do not understand why, bicycle theft was somehow linked to terrorism by London's police. See [1] for example. I had a bicycle stolen, and after filing the report the police phoned me to ask for more details on the lock I'd used. I later found it on Gumtree, with a description ending something like "Call Peter on 07123456789, meet at Forest Heath Station". Putting the mobile phone number into Gumtree's search brought up about 50 bicycles, "Call John" "Call Dave" etc. I emailed this to the police, and had another phone call thanking me for my incredible investigation skill. They said they would go to find Peter/John/Dave, but would only contact me again if they found my bike, which they did not. I'm very suspicious of accounts like [2] "Mr T" with "Cash only" and a huge selection of bicycles. [1] https://www.bikeregister.com/news/putting-a-value-on-protected-bikes https://www.bikeregister.com/news/putting-a-value-on-protect... [2] https://www.gumtree.com/profile/accounts/48e9b2ff00d3f04e27fe0c08d270eb1e https://www.gumtree.com/profile/accounts/48e9b2ff00d3f04e27f... or similarly https://www.gumtree.com/profile/accounts/b8b756750f2960d115bd4ca22b99553e https://www.gumtree.com/profile/accounts/b8b756750f2960d115b...
- swarnie 4y ago
  That first Gumtree link is absolutely insane. It looks like a full time job for multiple people.
- jstarfish 4y ago
  > At least for a short while, and I do not understand why, bicycle theft was somehow linked to terrorism by London's police. Counter-Terrorism Patrol Unit. IME speculation: for security-adjacent personnel, recovery efforts (equipment, fraud, etc.) are a great way to quantify the work you do when you don't otherwise generate revenue. You can't take credit for disrupting events that didn't happen [because you intervened], but nobody can argue with you recovering or clawing back $x in lost/stolen assets. They were probably tasked with patrolling for misplaced explosives and other drama, but since incident count is low, they were given supplementary tasks (like tagging bikes they come across on patrol) to justify their salary and foster positive PR.
diceduckmonk 4y ago
Japan. All bikes must be registered with the local government. Bikes are one of the things police are vigilant about bikes. Police routinely pull over cyclists, especially if you’re a foreigner, to confirm you are the owner of the bike. Driving a bicycle while intoxicated is also treated just like driving a car. Electric bikes going 25km an hour or faster, or have larger than a 250watt battery needs to be registered as a motor vehicle. You’ll need a driver’s license, insurance, etc.