Originally Posted by
spinnaker
Bull. Real simple. OP had no proof. The plate number is meaningless. Even if the police could track down the car, there is a good chance it does not belong to the actual thief. The owner could just say he was not in the area or he might admit he was but was just driving by and op just grabbed his plate number. Even if the police could bring in the thief for the op to identify, he could simply say he grabbed it by mistake or some other excuse, like it was not him. The very low chance of prosecution combined with the low property value taken and the fact the theft was only attempted, just does not make it worth it to pursue. As a taxpayer, I would be pissed if the local police pursued such a case rather than protecting the community even if all that means is being on patrol.
Yeah, no video from the McDonald's. Oh wait, the cops did not even check for that. No fingerprints on the bicycle. Oh wait, the cops did not even check for those either.
As soon as the thief removed the bicycle from the rack, it was a theft. Attempted theft would have been if the thief had attempted to cut a lock but failed. In that case they could prosecute for property damage, vandalism.
The cops have a good witness. Prosecutors here have gotten three convictions for Hit&Run, reckless endangerment and terroristic threatening on three different individuals on my testimony alone.
So the claim the cops had nothing to go on is BS.
You can bet if it was a cops bike, the thief would have been prosecuted.