nyc_commuter

Officer Matt Friedman of SFPD is my new hero. Check out the video at the top of the article: https://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/28/us...s.html?hp&_r=0

polishmadman

Thats awesome. I wish las vegas had something like that. I would rock that sticker on every bike.

Walter S

That looks like a well intentioned program and I hope it has a positive effect. But I do hope they would not publish pictures of people they arrested. That might make sense for people that get convicted.

JBHoren

Looking at the second photo in the article, where the caption reads: "A bike with a missing seat outside a city library. Often, the police say, the culprits are drug addicts." -- given that the owner's U-Lock is visibly in use, I wonder if s/he might not have taken the saddle-and-seat-post with them... not uncommon to do so, but then that's not "news", right?

treadtread

Could also be a Brooks that got stolen. Brooks are hipstery now, so loads in SF. I passed through Sacramento on the long weekend, and we stopped at the Railroad museum. There was a bike rack diagonally opposite the museum, with a big message stenciled above it: "Can you tell which one of these is a bait bike?"

puckett129

I've got a framed picture of their unit poster in my home office. Love it.

MEversbergII

Well, that is an awesome logo.

M.

Andy_K 

Protecting the privacy of people who accidentally steal the bait bike?

Walter S

Your comment makes my point. Being arrested does not mean you're guilty.

Andy_K 

I realize that. I'm just trying to imagine a scenario in which an innocent person comes into possession of a locked bike.

Being found not guilty doesn't mean you're innocent.

longbeachgary

In this case it just means that you stole a bait bike?

TransitBiker

Nice.

- Andy

MEversbergII

Which is still theft, right?

M.

raqball

This is awesome! Wish every city had something similar!

WestPablo

+1 ^ This guy has a point. Checkout this scenario:

So a real bike thief takes a bait bike worth well over a thousand bucks. He then takes it to the Panhandle Park and parks it next to you and your friend who are just sitting and talking in the Park. This bike thief guy, casually knows your friend. He chimes in on the conversation. You all begin to freely chat. Suddenly, you get the idea that you'd like to go to the store for a snack. You ask this guy, if it'll be alright for you to borrow his nice bike to ride to the store. You get half way to the store, when suddenly you're overtaken by a swarm of San Francisco's finest. You're then arrested! You keep saying, "But officer, it's not really my bike!"...To which they respond, "Yeah! We know___!"...

Saving Hawaii

Where'd you get that?

TransitBiker

- Andy

WestPablo

That's just way too hilarious, Andy!

puckett129

Google image search the highest resolution you can find and then go to a store that prints image files from one of those kiosks. Buy matting and a frame and there you have it. You wouldn't believe how many framed pictures in my home were just JPG's I printed out myself and framed. I almost always mat them to "size up" to the next size frame to make them look bigger than they are. Also websites like canvas 4 life can check images to see how big they can be sized without losing too much detail. Printing stuff on canvass is nice because some of the pixelation that can occur is hidden by the texture of the canvass.

Walter S

You're assuming that the person really had possession when arrested. Try harder on the imagination. You've never heard of bad police work? You've never heard of being in the wrong place at the wrong time?

Yes, being found not guilty does not mean you're innocent. But it does mean there's reasonable doubt. And you should not have your picture spread around as a thief.

TransitBiker

If i ever caught someone trying to steal my bike:



- Andy

polishmadman

In this case the thieves aren't getting far with the bike. The video even shows the a thief being grabbed just off camera. It's the same as bait cars. They dont let you get far. They dont need to, you're in possession of stolen property as soon you walk away with it. So, I say, show their pics they deserve it.

kelsodeez

There's a difference between being accused of something and getting caught red handed. On the flipside, who in their right mind leaves a nice bike unattended in the city?

WestPablo

Yeah, but sometimes police get distracted. There's a drug dealer selling to kids over there, Jim! Get 'em!... There's a purse snatcher coming your way Capt'n! Grab 'em! OTOH, the guys might be in the middle of their donuts...Who knows?..Stuff happens!

If anything does happen, that causes the police any slight delay of time, between the actual theft and the arrest, then the accused should not be photographed until after conviction.

+1

OTOH, I would agree, that if the thief is caught red-handed then a photo should be forwarded pronto!

puckett129

These operations are stings. The thief is always caught red handed. The bike is identified before the operation the location where it is to be left is not random to the degree that there is a plan. There is most likely video rolling the entire time (from multiple angles in some cases) and the thief is taken into custody in close proximity to the location of occurrence with the proceeds of the crime in their possession. Circumstances happen that lead to innocent people being accused of crimes, but this isn't likely to be one of those scenarios.