Re:A Seattle vigilante who beats the police to bike thieves
by barrkel on Tuesday September 06, 2016 @05:34AM
(#12434639)
The usual way to find organised thieves is with a decoy bike in a high theft area, with surveillance and police lying in wait.
Re:A Seattle vigilante who beats the police to bike thieves
by rangibaby on Tuesday September 06, 2016 @07:46AM
(#12435252)
> are they supposed to interrogate every person on a bike to check if it is stolen?
This is what Japanese cops do. Every bike is registered to a name, and they radio to check the registered name and frame number against your id. It takes about five minutes. My bike has been stolen three times (probably by different people) and they recovered it twice and caught the thief the third time.
Re:A Seattle vigilante who beats the police to bike thieves
by throwaway7767 on Tuesday September 06, 2016 @11:50AM
(#12436861)
Wow, sounds like being a cyclist in Japan is hell. I've had a bike stolen, and it sucks, but not nearly as much as it would suck to be stopped by police all the time and expected to prove ownership of my bike.
Re:A Seattle vigilante who beats the police to bike thieves
by rangibaby on Wednesday September 07, 2016 @02:45AM
(#12441322)
It's a hassle, but the check is over in 5 minutes. Show your photo id (which Japanese usually carry, and foreigners are required to) and if the names match you're good to go. If the bike isn't reported stolen and your ID is good they'll send you on your way. If it's reported stolen you'll have to go to the police station to do some paperwork even if it is your bike.
The problem is, as with all theft, unless someone witnesses the crime as it is occurring by the time the cop gets to the scene it is too late to find the bike. Experienced thieves will scope out bikes ahead of time and have a place to stash them quickly, and even if the police do arrive quickly, are they supposed to interrogate every person on a bike to check if it is stolen?
Basically they need to focus on these theft rings that steal bikes en masse and move them to another region to sell.
I have on more than 3 or 4 times seen a truck with the bed FULL of bikes I'm talking stacked 6 feet high with a cage around the bed.
Where did all those bikes come from? And ive never seen a decent bike in the stack. Mostly children's bikes (easiest to steal as I imagine children don't secure their bikes very well) and Wal Mart beaters.