Where do stolen bikes go?

Re:Where do stolen bikes go? by ozim on Thursday February 16, 2023 @03:17PM (#34825294)

I did not hear about VanMoof earlier but my buddy called police (Amsterdam area of course) once when he found his bike and he wanted to be good citizen so he did not want to just steal it back from some backyard.

Well police helped him recover the bike without arresting anyone and told him next time he should just steal it back and don't bother them.

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Re:Where do stolen bikes go? by BonoboIO on Friday February 17, 2023 @12:15AM (#34831064)

Don’t disturb cops while they drink coffee. Poor guys. /s

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Re:Where do stolen bikes go? by adastra22 on Friday February 17, 2023 @02:25AM (#34831847)

How is taking your own property back being a bad citizen?

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Re:Where do stolen bikes go? by acadapter on Friday February 17, 2023 @02:38AM (#34831943)

In some countries it might be illegal to disturb someone's possession of something, as a general rule, regardless of legitimate ownership.

For example, in Sweden, if it's been more than 24 hours, it's illegal to do it on your own.

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Re:Where do stolen bikes go? by adastra22 on Friday February 17, 2023 @11:59AM (#34837167)

Wow this is crazy to me.

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Re:Where do stolen bikes go? by 908B64B197 on Friday February 17, 2023 @06:28PM (#34842022)

I guess that's parts and parcel for a country that just stopped reporting crime stats for certain crimes a while ago.

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Re:Where do stolen bikes go? by throwaway049 on Friday February 17, 2023 @02:35AM (#34831923)

I think he intended to be a good citizen by leading the police to some bike thieves.

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Re:Where do stolen bikes go? by AlexTWithBeard on Friday February 17, 2023 @03:07AM (#34832118)

It becomes complicated if the new owner has legitimately bought the bike in a second hand store.

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Re:Where do stolen bikes go? by ThrustVectoring on Friday February 17, 2023 @03:16AM (#34832179)

It's not that complicated, legally speaking. The rightful owner gets to get their stuff back, and the new "owner" has a claim against the purveyor of stolen goods for the purchase price.

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Re:Where do stolen bikes go? by rompic on Friday February 17, 2023 @03:41AM (#34832330)

At least in Austria that's not how it works.

The new "owner" will keep the bike as he has bought in in good faith. The shop will claim that it cannot check every used bike. The rightful owner could try to get money from the person who stole it (if found), but they most likely don't have any money.

It's the perfect crime and the reason why we cannot have nice bikes. People are literally sleeping with their expensive bikes in a room.

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Re:Where do stolen bikes go? by zarzavat on Friday February 17, 2023 @11:34AM (#34836798)

I can't believe the law works like that. Are you telling me that if I buy a yacht in Austria "in good faith" from someone who doesn't own it, I can just sail away on the yacht, original owner be damned?

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Re:Where do stolen bikes go? by nkingsy on Friday February 17, 2023 @12:18PM (#34837441)

Not a lot of yachts in Austria

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Re:Where do stolen bikes go? by _nalply on Friday February 17, 2023 @12:38PM (#34837708)

There's same law in Switzerland.

However as soon as you as the buyer feel something is off, you aren't protected anymore because only good faith buyers are protected. For example if you go to the black market or something seems to be extremely cheap you definitively aren't protected anymore.

It's a conflict of interests. This law is trying to do a tradeoff. Imagine you went to Walmart and bought a bike and everything seemed fine but it turned out that an employee stole the bike and sold it to you in the name of Walmart. In this case you can keep the bike.

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Re:Where do stolen bikes go? by tinus_hn on Friday February 17, 2023 @01:02PM (#34838073)

In the Netherlands second hand bicycle stores have to keep records where their bikes come from. A stolen bike shouldn’t end up in a legitimate shop.

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Re:Where do stolen bikes go? by namaria on Tuesday February 21, 2023 @08:30AM (#34880878)

Surely we can trust hundreds and hundreds of small business owners to be very strict about law enforcement when it pushes against their financial interests, in a country with more bikes then people.

No stolen bikes end up in shops, no siree. Yeah right.

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Re:Where do stolen bikes go? by tinus_hn on Tuesday February 21, 2023 @09:29PM (#34890807)

We’re living in an era where people regularly use tracking devices to retrieve their stolen bicycles. If they turn up in a store the owner should run into trouble even without regular checks.

Of course this depends on the police not being lazy which clearly is a big ask but if that is too much any law is pointless.

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Re:Where do stolen bikes go? by adastra22 on Saturday February 18, 2023 @01:41PM (#34849690)

It seems it depends on the jurisdiction. In the US you can’t launder title for stolen goods like this. If you bought a stolen bike, well it sucks to be you. The bike goes back to the rightful owner.

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Re:Where do stolen bikes go? by ozim on Friday February 17, 2023 @03:16AM (#34832174)

If you go to someones backyard and start taking things and they call the police then you are a bad citizen.

Calling cops and doing it with their help covers your ass.

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Re:Where do stolen bikes go? by _nalply on Friday February 17, 2023 @12:33PM (#34837629)

It's called trespassing.

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Re:Where do stolen bikes go? by jrimbault on Friday February 17, 2023 @04:24AM (#34832624)

Citizens are, generally, not supposed (nor expected to) to take justice into their own hands.

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Re:Where do stolen bikes go? by tinus_hn on Friday February 17, 2023 @12:59PM (#34838035)

Unfortunately that is one of the best outcomes you can expect. At least he got his bicycle back.

During COVID there were plenty of officers available to fine normal people who were sitting too close on a bench. But to deal with real criminals who talk back is too much of a hassle.

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