Originally Posted by
Unreasonable
I also suggested the police option... but not just leaving it where it was (likely to be stolen by someone else with less care to help the owner recover it), but maybe bringing it to the police. Or at least giving them the serial number and description if they don't want to hold onto it physically.
If upon finding an "abandoned" bike if you are so worried that someone else might come along and steal it than after calling the police wait for them to show up.
IF after calling the police they tell you to take it home and store it then I wouldn't have a problem with it. But just taking it home with and then calling the police no, I'm sorry but that is theft.
Originally Posted by
Unreasonable
You brought up the point about a homeless person's inability to track it down again, and I feel it warrants the same response I gave before - that situation would be hard to come by. Where I live, at least, a bike is almost everything to a homeless person. It's how they get anywhere and carry anything more than the clothes on their back. They wouldn't leave it lying around out of sight, so if you were to take it you wouldn't have followed the precautions I'm in support of.
Just because that might be how things are where you live doesn't mean that that is how things are everywhere. And there might be a reason why a homeless person's bike might be out of their sight. Such as dumpster diving,
IF they are actually
INSIDE of the dumpster then that bike that is leaning up against a dumpster apparently "abandoned" is out of their sight and it isn't abandoned.
Originally Posted by
Unreasonable
I'm really not dressing this up at all. Doing what I'm suggesting should be done won't warrant a lengthy search by the owner at all. He calls a number left where his bike was, or calls the police. It's not like he has to hire a PI.
It sure sounds like you're trying to justify taking something that doesn't belong to you. The best course of action if one finds an "abandoned" bike is to call the police and report it to them. Letting them know where it is, the make and model, the serial number, color, etc. Also letting them know that if it isn't claimed by the rightful owner that you'll be filing a claim. Ask them when they are going to send someone out to pick it up, or if they want you to bring it to them, or if they want you to take it home. But don't just assume that because you see an "abandoned" bike that it is an "abandoned" bike, and that you can take it home with you and then contact the police.
Also don't forget that even the homeless need to sleep, are you suggesting that they are actually laying no their bikes when they're sleeping? And also don't forget that it isn't just the homeless who depend on their bikes for everything either. There are a lot of low income people with homes who depend on their bikes for everything as well.
The bottom line is that it is asinine to assume that a bike that appears to be "abandoned" is abandoned. The owner (even a homeless person) could have just momentarily wondered a little further away from it then they intended. If one truly believes that a bike is abandoned and they are not a city/county/state/federal employee or a private citizen who has been instructed by their boss to remove abandoned property. Leave it alone and call the police.
Also stop and think about this, that "abandoned" bike that you're eyeballing just might be part of a police sting. And by "recovering it" you might suddenly find yourself surrounded by LEOs. You do know that the police do engage in such stings, right?