Seattle Forrest

I'm going to have to watch these when I get home.

Another question this brings up for me, comes from a thread I read in the commuting forum. Somebody said that many bike thieves will put their own U-lock on your bike while you're in the store, then come back at 3 am under the relative safety of the night. If I came to a bike rack and saw somebody hacking away at a lock, saying that somebody else had locked their bike, I don't think I'd believe them ... but if it happened to me, what would I do? I certainly don't ride around with the receipt to my bike, so I'd have a hard time convincing anybody else it was mine, too.

akohekohe

Well, where I live bicycles are licensed so it would be easy enough to call 911 and report it to the police. They can check the records and verify you are the owner. They do remove and impound bicycles that are illegally parked even when they are locked so they might even remove the lock for you.

Roody

Even if it's not licensed, I think most cops would believe you if you reported it as stolen before you took the lock off. It just doesn't seem that likely that a thief would call the police to help him steal a bike. Besides, most cops don't really care who owns a bike or who steals one.

JesusBananas

yater

So apologize.

KD5NRH

Police response to a crime in progress around here is usually under three minutes. I'd call it in as suspicious activity, and let them sort it out. If it really is the "thief's" bike, they'll have better tools available, and will usually help out if for no other reason than to stop anyone else from calling it in. If I'm driving, I usually have my DSLR with a 300mm lens, so I can sit back a ways and still get really good photos from a safe distance.

Sure, either way I have a handgun on me, and usually pepper spray too, but simple theft in the daytime isn't a force-justifying situation, and as long as I can get the guy caught in the act, it's a lot cheaper than any of the things that can go wrong if I confront him.

Call it in, give a statement if needed, go home. Confront, and even if there's no contact, he might still claim assault, causing a lot of hassle. While working security, I've been accused of "smacking" a drunk trespasser with a big Mag light when the cops knew full well that all I had on me was a 2AA pocket light, he had no injuries whatsoever, and didn't make the claim until after he'd had 24 hours to sober up. It still cost me about two hours of writing and pointing out evidence, and cost my company a bit for the lawyer. If I'd called the cops on him right at the start instead of waiting until after I confronted him, my part would have been done within two minutes and cost the company nothing.

BarracksSi

Hell no.