Commuting - Police stakeout

Okay, I know they screwed up, but can you imagine the police staking out an $150 bike all day in the UK or US to find the thief? It looks like they were actually instructed to sit there all day and night until the bike thief returned so they could arrest him! I really starting to think I should move back to Japan


http://mdn.mainichi-msn.co.jp/national/news/20070628p2a00m0na018000c.html

Never watch cops? Many municipalities do this from time to time. However, I doubt they wait for very long.

That's kind of crazy. Seems like a theft of convenience. Somebody stole the bike for a one time usage. Not going to catch the original thief by staking it out afterwards.

Yeah it is only worth $150, but that sounds like alot in their country mayhaps? But the big point of this article is the police are helping a student find a stolen bike ?!?!?!?! That is freakin amazing! Here in the twin cities, if your bike is stolen, it's all up to you, since even if you register it, the police do nothing but put it in a report and file it along with the billion other bicycle thefts. I salute you KASAMA, Ibarak po po.

$150 isn't tons of money in Japan, but she was a student. A quick Wikipedia search shows that Kasama is a pretty small town (population just about 30,000), which at least partly explains the attention paid to this case:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kasama%2C_Ibaraki

In Hennepin County (Minneapolis being the county seat) actually has bait bikes for that very thing. They use 'em at various facilities when the issue crops up.

The cost of living in Japan is way higher than the USA. That's not relevant though. Japanese police are willing to go the extra mile for you.

I still think it's a mistake to stake out the discarded stolen frame. The second thief won't be the same person who broke the lock in the first place. Stealing an unlocked bike in Japan is a very very minor crime. It's almost normal.

Quickly! We must get the sexy ninjas on the case...ha..fuu... hiiiiii!! :D


Seriously tho, sucks for the girl being a student that's about a weeks worth of food. :(

Okay, I know they screwed up, but can you imagine the police staking out an $150 bike all day in the UK or US to find the thief? It looks like they were actually instructed to sit there all day and night until the bike thief returned so they could arrest him! I really starting to think I should move back to Japan


http://mdn.mainichi-msn.co.jp/national/news/20070628p2a00m0na018000c.html



Greeeeaaaatttt. :mad: Would have like to have had them stake my bike out last week when it was stolen and the $150 price tag was not even a small percentage of what the bike was worth.

<OK, so who now took the spiked club from me ... fess up!!! I want grievance time!!!!!!!!!!, ahem>

The only time the police go the extra mile for me is to give me s***

I fantasize about using a bait bike to inflict vigilante justice of an extreme and unremitting nature.

In Holland, the police won't even bother filling out a theft report unless it's for insurance purposes.

I fantasize about using a bait bike to inflict vigilante justice of an extreme and unremitting nature.

In Texas, the "castle laws" have been revised and I could make a case for using violence to defend my bike.

Looks like it isn't only small towns in Japan that take bike theft seriously.

No crime too small in Tokyo (http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-bike28mar28,0,244160,full.story?coll=la-home-headlines)