Originally Posted by
dougmc
...I also doubt that the police really do recover half of the stolen bikes -- that seems way too high...
Originally Posted by
neil
...This you're probably right on. I imagine the number is arrived at based on "number of recovered bikes / number of bikes reported stolen." Missing not only unreported thefts, but also the reality that a large number of recovered bikes auctioned off by the police are simply abandoned, not stolen.
the number of abandoned bikes recovered would explain why, at police bike auctions, that the number of bicycles sold often exceed the number of bikes stolen