Originally Posted by jhefner

Have the same story, except:

* It was locked to a lamp post at a trade school I was attending.
* It was one of the kids in shop class who saw it there every day, and talked their instructor into loaning them a pair of bolt cutters so they could "liberate" it.
* When I reported it stolen, the word got back to the instructor, and he drove me personally to the kid's house to recover it.

So I agree, I would also not liberate a bike unless I was able to talk to the owner. The kid in this case got the "go-ahead from someone in authority to give the go-ahead"; but he was wrong, too.