Bike Theft In the U. S.

On 25/04/17 17:02, JNugent wrote:
On 25/04/2017 16:51, TMS320 wrote:
On 25/04/17 15:29, JNugent wrote:
On 25/04/2017 12:01, TMS320 wrote:
On 25/04/17 00:21, JNugent wrote:
On 24/04/2017 21:02, TMS320 wrote:
On 24/04/17 13:13, JNugent wrote:
On 24/04/2017 10:04, TMS320 wrote:
On 24/04/17 01:38, JNugent wrote:
On 23/04/2017 21:25, TMS320 wrote:
On 23/04/17 17:43, JNugent wrote:

Though you obviously didn't know it, car-theft is actually
rare in the the UK and countries with similar systems. It
happens, but it isn't at all common.

You're rather naive if you think plates have much to do with
it.

It is not common because cars have had electronic keys for the
last 20 years and can't be hot wired; the key (or code) has to
be obtained first.

Nothing whatever to do with it.

Everything to do with it.

Au contraire, as already explained, though the truth is too
inconvenient for you to accept.

You should read the paragraph you wrote that I quote above my
reply. If
you're referring to something else that you wrote... I have not
replied
to that.

You are in denial about something which is central here (but which
you've snipped).

Nothing snipped that is relevant to reply. Things don't get stolen when
it is physically difficult not because of a piece stuck on plastic.

Cars are rarely stolen as compare with being temporarily taken for
joyriding or similar.

To steal is to dishonestly appropriate the property of another with
the
intention to permanently deprive that owner of the item stolen.

OK, so if you're desperate to push the funny wig definition, then you
can accept that VED is not "road tax".

I don't believe that you had never before encountered the correct
definition of theft.

My interest in law is in those that govern nature; your interest is in
something that is a human invention.

Hence the differences between us when it comes to things like one-way
streets, stop-lines and red traffic lights, etc.

A problem only arises when people don't respect natural laws. Obviously
you can quote me to escape being sued for libel.

Though somehow, one still suspects that you would not be quite so
sanguine about breaches of statute law if a lorry came through a red
light and knocked you off your trike.

I would be very sanguine free when it is spread over the road. Human
law's major failing is that so many obstacles have to be cleared that
the driver probably won't get punished.

A couple hours ago I came out of Dollar Store to find a miscreant rummaging through my seat bag.

Trying to muster some outrage I demanded "what are you doing?"

He claimed he had a flat tire and needed a patch kit.

This was such a charming answer no one on the planet could get upset.

I went through the bag to see if anything had been removed. The camera battery was still there and I mumbled, "well, you didn't steal the battery."

I don't really inventory that bag very often or well. The patch kit was later found back home.

I said, "your tire looks pretty good. Press down on it." Not that it matters much with BMX but his tire was almost fully inflated.

"See, " I said, "your tire is OK." "Where is your light?"

He had none.

"OK," I said magnanimously, "I'll give you one" and rummaged further into the bag to produce a spare strap on Si rubber light.

The button batteries were dead and I gave up on the idea of giving even a $1 item to such a dysfunctional.

I got ready to go and he said he was going to follow me.

The wind was blowing pretty strong out of the West, bad air warnings, etc. I thought, if he follows I'll just go East a few blocks to lose him . . .


Bret Cahill

Nice... Hemingwayesque, even...

He never said much either.


Bret Cahill

On 23/04/2017 00:34, JNugent wrote:
On 22/04/2017 18:43, Bret Cahill wrote:

http://www.latimes.com/opinion/livab...421-story.html


QUOTE:
In Los Angeles and virtually every city in North America, bicycle theft
has almost become a crime without consequence, so widespread that it is
treated less as a problem and more like one of the costs of urban life.
Thieves can quickly cut locks on a target that serves as its own getaway
vehicle, sell their ill-gotten goods to fencers for pennies on the
dollar, and rest assured they will almost never be busted.
ENDQUOTE

Wouldn't it be easier to combat that sort of crime if bicycles were
easier to track once stolen - and pouldn't just be re-used with impunity
as long as they were just a reasonable distance from the true owner's
home ground?


A friend had his bike stolen - looked like an angle grinder cut through
the D-lock, busy road.

Later that night it turned up on ebay (it had a probably unique
combination of pedals, markings/scratches, saddle, tyres and groupset).
He told the police, got a crime number etc. The police (Sheffield UK) in
effect did nothing. The bike sold and the police did not intervene.
Friend lost the bike.

I'm not sure how typical this anecdote is, but perhaps the police simply
don't have the resources, or it doesn't chime with however their
performance is measured.

--
Cheers, Rob

On 27/04/2017 04:05, RJH wrote:
On 23/04/2017 00:34, JNugent wrote:
On 22/04/2017 18:43, Bret Cahill wrote:

http://www.latimes.com/opinion/livab...421-story.html



QUOTE:
In Los Angeles and virtually every city in North America, bicycle theft
has almost become a crime without consequence, so widespread that it is
treated less as a problem and more like one of the costs of urban life.
Thieves can quickly cut locks on a target that serves as its own getaway
vehicle, sell their ill-gotten goods to fencers for pennies on the
dollar, and rest assured they will almost never be busted.
ENDQUOTE

Wouldn't it be easier to combat that sort of crime if bicycles were
easier to track once stolen - and pouldn't just be re-used with impunity
as long as they were just a reasonable distance from the true owner's
home ground?


A friend had his bike stolen - looked like an angle grinder cut through
the D-lock, busy road.

Later that night it turned up on ebay (it had a probably unique
combination of pedals, markings/scratches, saddle, tyres and groupset).
He told the police, got a crime number etc. The police (Sheffield UK) in
effect did nothing. The bike sold and the police did not intervene.
Friend lost the bike.

I'm not sure how typical this anecdote is, but perhaps the police simply
don't have the resources, or it doesn't chime with however their
performance is measured.


he should have made a ludicrous bid and won the auction, turned up with
the Police or some large friends (unlikely, I know) to collect it

On 27/04/2017 04:05, RJH wrote:
On 23/04/2017 00:34, JNugent wrote:
On 22/04/2017 18:43, Bret Cahill wrote:

http://www.latimes.com/opinion/livab...421-story.html



QUOTE:
In Los Angeles and virtually every city in North America, bicycle theft
has almost become a crime without consequence, so widespread that it is
treated less as a problem and more like one of the costs of urban life.
Thieves can quickly cut locks on a target that serves as its own getaway
vehicle, sell their ill-gotten goods to fencers for pennies on the
dollar, and rest assured they will almost never be busted.
ENDQUOTE

Wouldn't it be easier to combat that sort of crime if bicycles were
easier to track once stolen - and pouldn't just be re-used with impunity
as long as they were just a reasonable distance from the true owner's
home ground?


A friend had his bike stolen - looked like an angle grinder cut through
the D-lock, busy road.

Later that night it turned up on ebay (it had a probably unique
combination of pedals, markings/scratches, saddle, tyres and groupset).
He told the police, got a crime number etc. The police (Sheffield UK) in
effect did nothing. The bike sold and the police did not intervene.
Friend lost the bike.

I'm not sure how typical this anecdote is, but perhaps the police simply
don't have the resources, or it doesn't chime with however their
performance is measured.

The business of the police is to solve crimes and where possible and
appropriate, to prosecute. That, by and large, is what they want to do,
though (as an aside), it is possible to envisage cases where the
complainant cuts an unsympathetic figure with the offcers handling the case.

Your anecdote may indicate how resources are husbanded, but it might
also indicate lack of confidence in the complainant's identification of
"his" bike on eBay. The police might, whilst being willing to devote
some resources to the case, be unable to commit resources to every
example of local newspaper adverts, craigslist entries, eBay listings, etc.

But your point is well-made. Bicycles are difficult to trace and they
couild be easier if there were a single national registration scheme
whch was difficult to evade. And it would have other advantages.

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On 27/04/2017 07:04, MrCheerful wrote:
On 27/04/2017 04:05, RJH wrote:
On 23/04/2017 00:34, JNugent wrote:
On 22/04/2017 18:43, Bret Cahill wrote:

http://www.latimes.com/opinion/livab...421-story.html




QUOTE:
In Los Angeles and virtually every city in North America, bicycle theft
has almost become a crime without consequence, so widespread that it is
treated less as a problem and more like one of the costs of urban life.
Thieves can quickly cut locks on a target that serves as its own getaway
vehicle, sell their ill-gotten goods to fencers for pennies on the
dollar, and rest assured they will almost never be busted.
ENDQUOTE

Wouldn't it be easier to combat that sort of crime if bicycles were
easier to track once stolen - and pouldn't just be re-used with impunity
as long as they were just a reasonable distance from the true owner's
home ground?


A friend had his bike stolen - looked like an angle grinder cut through
the D-lock, busy road.

Later that night it turned up on ebay (it had a probably unique
combination of pedals, markings/scratches, saddle, tyres and groupset).
He told the police, got a crime number etc. The police (Sheffield UK) in
effect did nothing. The bike sold and the police did not intervene.
Friend lost the bike.

I'm not sure how typical this anecdote is, but perhaps the police simply
don't have the resources, or it doesn't chime with however their
performance is measured.


he should have made a ludicrous bid and won the auction, turned up with
the Police or some large friends (unlikely, I know) to collect it

He'd have looked silly if it turned out not to be his bike. Not to
mention out of pocket.


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On 27/04/2017 10:01, JNugent wrote:
On 27/04/2017 07:04, MrCheerful wrote:
On 27/04/2017 04:05, RJH wrote:
On 23/04/2017 00:34, JNugent wrote:
On 22/04/2017 18:43, Bret Cahill wrote:

http://www.latimes.com/opinion/livab...421-story.html





QUOTE:
In Los Angeles and virtually every city in North America, bicycle theft
has almost become a crime without consequence, so widespread that it is
treated less as a problem and more like one of the costs of urban life.
Thieves can quickly cut locks on a target that serves as its own
getaway
vehicle, sell their ill-gotten goods to fencers for pennies on the
dollar, and rest assured they will almost never be busted.
ENDQUOTE

Wouldn't it be easier to combat that sort of crime if bicycles were
easier to track once stolen - and pouldn't just be re-used with
impunity
as long as they were just a reasonable distance from the true owner's
home ground?


A friend had his bike stolen - looked like an angle grinder cut through
the D-lock, busy road.

Later that night it turned up on ebay (it had a probably unique
combination of pedals, markings/scratches, saddle, tyres and groupset).
He told the police, got a crime number etc. The police (Sheffield UK) in
effect did nothing. The bike sold and the police did not intervene.
Friend lost the bike.

I'm not sure how typical this anecdote is, but perhaps the police simply
don't have the resources, or it doesn't chime with however their
performance is measured.


he should have made a ludicrous bid and won the auction, turned up with
the Police or some large friends (unlikely, I know) to collect it

He'd have looked silly if it turned out not to be his bike. Not to
mention out of pocket.


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http://www.avg.com


Just say it was not as described and walk away.