WestPablo

Don't believe everything you see on TV...

My brother's a cop! I've got a thousand stories I could tell ya, buddy!

Walter S

+1! Look at all the cases where even after people go to court they get wrongly convicted of a crime they didn't commit, as can be proven by DNA. My faith in the justice system is rather low. But I still have way more faith in convictions than arrests because the more people handle a case, the more checks and balances there are that might kick it out. There's no reason to assume the sting is actually being run the way you've been told it would. And there's no reason not to delay publishing pictures until after conviction. The principle of innocent until proven guilty is always important. Maybe even more important in cases where there's very compelling evidence of guilt.

Andy_K 

You left out the part where they taze you for no apparent reason.

Seriously, I'll admit that this is a plausible scenario. For a white male with a stable employment history, this story might even be enough to avoid conviction. Pessimistically, I would expect that stories like will be used in defenses soon and that quick hand-offs will become a common part of the bike thieves repertoire in the near future. I actually had thought about it, and I came up with an Assassin's Creed-type scenario where the thief takes the bike and immediately rides to a park bench and sits next to the bike for a while, then if questioned claims that somebody else left the bike there. I can easily see that evolving into the thief leaving the bike next to a stranger sitting on a bench for some period of time. Video of the actual theft would be key to prosecution.

In any event, it's already common practice for newspapers and television news to publish photos of people who have been arrested but not convicted of various crimes. There's really nothing new here in that regard. The reason not to wait for conviction is that a program like this isn't really about getting convictions. SFPD doesn't want people in jail for bike theft. More likely this is a program to trigger probation violation for people they want in jail for other reasons. Secondarily, it works as a deterrent to theft, and that's what the published photo part of the program seems to be about.

rpcleary

From a legal perspective: It is completely legal for the pictures and names of arrested individuals to be disseminated, provided that they are labeled as arrests, not convictions. Likewise, if it is a youth, there are many laws which prevent their name from being released or their often their likeness (blurring).

As Andy pointed out, this is indeed designed as a deterrent and a way to catch repeat offenders.

erig007

What these operations would do on the short term is to force thieves to go for low end bikes rather than higher end one. (Not the same risk) Which could eventually give space for all those cyclists that didn't want to use their more expensive bike for daily commute (and by ricochet all those LBS selling more expensive bikes, which should be good for the economy . Though it could also prevent newcomers with low end (walmart) bikes to keep cycling....or not if the theft rate goes down)
What could also happen in the long run is that thieves would find countermeasures like with anything else. Neverending story.

ill.clyde

As a "creative" I have to chuckle at the irony of posting instructions for "stealing" artwork for a bike theft police unit in a thread that supports efforts at thwarting stealing.




To the OP, this is fantastic. Would be great if more communities would do this, and I too, have no qualms about having the alleged thief's picture online.

puckett129

Yeah, my brother is not a cop. I don't watch much TV - and definitely don't watch cop shows.


I'll be the first to say I don't know much about copyright law but I would think that as a unit poster or logo for a police department this would be much different than another type of image in terms of its license to be used - especially for other than commercial purposes. Again, I could be wrong. Not going to get into a discussion here about intellectual property, but I will say this; I would gladly buy a larger version of this for a larger frame, but it doesn't appear to be something that's available.

ill.clyde

oh I'm not all bent out of shape or anything ... just found the humor in it

And I'd buy one too ... would be a cool way for the SFPD to continue to fund this endeavour, selling that poster and those "bait bike" stickers. I'd buy several of the stickers

WestPablo

That's too bad! Perhaps, if he was, you'd see the potential destruction such photos could have on the lives of the unjustly accused...

No pity for the actual bike thieves though, they're entitled to much more than just a mere photo release!

However, for a recent high school or college grad, just making an attempt to land a job, who's innocent, that kinda thing could prove to be absolutely devastating!

AlTheKiller

My local paper runs pictures on just about anyone arrested and accused of a crime in town. It's not a new thing, it's nit a rare thing. It is what it is.

On another topic, I caught the low life thieves with my bike about a block away from my work. (easy to catch a 5'4 guy frantically trying to not crash a 58cm fixed gear with drop bars... and he wouldn't stop repeating that it was his friends bike. I told him I'd gladly relieve both him and his friend of every tooth in their ugly little heads if they didn't hand over my property. Old lady at the bus stop nearby got a chuckle out of it at least.

fietsbob

Guess a theres something from paying those Brutal rents and Property taxes in the priciest place on the west coast.

mannie3moon

This is an excellent operation, and it needs to spread all across the country. That being said, what is being done to ensure the safety of bicycle parking in the first place? The article says that the increase in cycling thefts is due to an increase in cycling, which is due to the implementation of more cycling infrastructure. Maybe businesses could offer safer bicycle parking?