Get your stolen bike back

Just had an interesting talk with a policeman.

Tags, it seems, are merely a deterrent to theft. The problem with them is
that when plod spots an oik with a too-nice-for-him bike he doesn't have
the scanner on him and will prolly not confiscate the bike on the off
chance it's nicked.

What they do when they suspect a bike is stolen is flip it over and give
the frame number to the control room. If that frame number has been
reported stolen the bike is returned to you. Woo!

If you don't make a note of the frame number all the policeman has to go on
is the make and model. This will return oodles of possibles and will take
hours to go through and check. It won't happen. You won't get your bike
back. If you've given them the frame number, you will.

The frame number is normally underneath the bottom bracket, I've just made
a note of mine.

I've had several bikes stolen.
Most were reported to the police.
Several were also Postcoded.
I knew the frame numbers.
It never made any difference.
I never saw anything again.
Many bikes are exported wholesale by gangs of crooks.

--
Helen D. Vecht:
Edgware.

Helen Deborah Vecht writtificated

I've had several bikes stolen.
Most were reported to the police.
I knew the frame numbers.
It never made any difference.

You can have some chance or no chance shrugs

Mark T wrote:
Just had an interesting talk with a policeman.

Tags, it seems, are merely a deterrent to theft. The problem with
them is that when plod spots an oik with a too-nice-for-him bike he
doesn't have the scanner on him and will prolly not confiscate the
bike on the off chance it's nicked.

What they do when they suspect a bike is stolen is flip it over and
give the frame number to the control room. If that frame number has
been reported stolen the bike is returned to you. Woo!

If you don't make a note of the frame number all the policeman has to
go on is the make and model. This will return oodles of possibles
and will take hours to go through and check. It won't happen. You
won't get your bike back. If you've given them the frame number, you
will.

The frame number is normally underneath the bottom bracket, I've just
made a note of mine.


Stolen bikes get abandoned and handed-in quite often. I don't expect the
police to go round scanning random bikes on the street, but I do expect them
to scan bikes that are recovered in the police station. Whether they
actually bother or not, I dunno.

The sticker is a little bit of a deterrent anyway. I got some cheap "Stop
Theft" kits off Fleabay a while ago. They use the same system and database
as the more expensive Datatag ones.

~PB

"Mark T"
pleasegivegenerously@warmail*turn_up_the_heat_to_ reply*.com.invalid wrote
in message ...
Helen Deborah Vecht writtificated

I've had several bikes stolen.
Most were reported to the police.
I knew the frame numbers.
It never made any difference.

You can have some chance or no chance shrugs

None of the six post coded, frame number recorded bikes that have been
stolen from members of my family members have ever been returned so it looks
like no chance.... shrug of resignation....

On 25 Jun, 21:20, Mark T
pleasegivegenerously@warmail*turn_up_the_heat_to_ reply*.com.invalid
wrote:
Just had an interesting talk with a policeman.

Tags, it seems, are merely a deterrent to theft. The problem with them is
that when plod spots an oik with a too-nice-for-him bike he doesn't have
the scanner on him and will prolly not confiscate the bike on the off
chance it's nicked.

What they do when they suspect a bike is stolen is flip it over and give
the frame number to the control room. If that frame number has been
reported stolen the bike is returned to you.

Funny - I just had 2 police officers visit me Thursday afternoon after
I complained about (kids) bike theft. They said they checked the frame
numbers of 2 stolen bikes but couldn't confiscate them, because the
bikes hadn't been reported as stolen.

Straight after they left, I went outside and made a note of my bike's
frame number.

Email it to yourself in case you lose it.

On Jun 25, 10:40*pm, Helen Deborah Vecht
wrote:

Many bikes are exported wholesale by gangs of crooks.

... and those that aren't are sold on ebay or car boots probably.

didds

Pete Biggs writtificated

I don't expect the
police to go round scanning random bikes on the street

Quite, but they *do* check frame numbers of random bikes in the street[1].


[1] Well, frame numbers of nice bikes ridden by oiks and known thieves.

Mark T wrote:
Pete Biggs writtificated

I don't expect the
police to go round scanning random bikes on the street

Quite, but they *do* check frame numbers of random bikes in the
street[1].

[1] Well, frame numbers of nice bikes ridden by oiks and known
thieves.

I agree it's a good idea to make a note of your frame numbers. Your bike
could end up in a police station even if no bikes were checked in the
street. It happened to one of my bikes that was stolen.

~PB

Mark T
pleasegivegenerously@warmail*turn_up_the_heat_to_ reply*.com.invalidtyped


Pete Biggs writtificated

I don't expect the
police to go round scanning random bikes on the street

Quite, but they *do* check frame numbers of random bikes in the street[1].


[1] Well, frame numbers of nice bikes ridden by oiks and known thieves.

No police person ever checked my frame number, in 25 years of cycling,
sometimes as much as 11,000 miles per year.

--
Helen D. Vecht:
Edgware.