I have heard this story many times. The police don't give a hoot about your app that says someone stole your bike. So as you said, the GPS is of questionable value in itself.
In the cases I know of, people had to go vigilante and go out themselves with a bolt cutter. One of them even saw his bike listed for sale a few hours after it was stolen, and went out and stole it back. Of course not everyone has the constitution or inclination to go crime fighting.
Re:Buying an ebike
by wellthisisgreat on Thursday November 25, 2021 @11:25AM
(#29342606)
You think it would be the same response if you physically showed up at the police station and asked them?
I imagine in NYC that would have been the only way to go
I had a locked ebike stolen from outside my home (locked to the wall, with a gold chain lock). No problem - it had a GPS tracker fitted, and I could see it was travelling up the motorway to Birmingham; so I called the cops.
"It's out of our area".
So I waited till it stopped, in the West Midlands Police area. I called them and gave them the address where it had stopped.
"We are not going to start ringing people's doorbells to ask them if they have a stolen bike on the premises, and we can't search".
"You mean, you aren't prepared to enforce the law against theft?"
"Do you know how many Porsches and Ferarris get stolen in the WMP area every day? Bikes are not our priority."
My next e-bike (Gocycle GX) was not fitted with a £250 GPS tracker; and I keep it indoors.