Probable Cause. Next time just get a receipt, even something scrawled on a piece of paper with the seller's name & address.

(I don't normally find myself supporting the police, but in this case I think he acted rationally.)

Fair enough! I checked on this and it was at 120.4 plus one ear.

heh, yeah, i had to borrow some tools last weekend, and i was riding around with my fixed mtb wheel strapped to my bag...i kept thinking that i looked like such a thief.

I get dirty looks from people when I take a spare wheel, second bike, bike missing one or more wheels etc on the train. They say "you ****ing piece of ****!" with thier eyes and I feel like a complete ******* but I'm not about to drive or ride 15 miles with the junk so I just have to hang my head in shame.

Wow, that's just plain insane. Shouldn't he be out, you know, protecting people? Just a thought.

So protecting property is beneth the police?

Hey!...where did you buy that bike?...anything good?

I kind of want one when I go back to Toronto...

let me know via PM...thanks

Protecting people from crime includes this kind of stop. If your house gets robbed while you are away, do you not call the Police to investigate that crime? The Officer did his job, and a good job at that, from the OP's description.

seriously the OP said he felt weird, as you should feel weird after being accused of being a thief, but he also said he understood why it happened.

there's absolutely nothing wrong with this. i'm glad the cop stoppd him. if he was black and in the south i'm sure the cop wouldn't have been as nice about it.

We, the members of the earths populace, would like to publicly apologize to you. It was very impolite for us to expect you to answer a couple of questions from a law enforcement officer.

Lol!

That's exactly the point of my post!
I didn't mind and complain about the cop, he was just doing his job and I kinda had a friendly conversation with him even though I felt ****ty after being suspected of a crime I personally have strong feelings about.
It is the fact that general population for whom car seems to be the only legitimate worthwhile
means of transportation has such negative perceptions about cyclists especially those who don't wear spandex and ride bicycle for transportation and fun.
As for the receipt, how would you get it from a scrap metal guy or a garbage pile?

There are ways more effective ways to deal with bike theft, such as planting bait bikes...
But I guess putting thieves in jail would end up costing more than just letting them be.
Plus, who gives a **** about cyclists and their stupid bikes, they just need to "grow up".

You could also join or form a neighborhood watch and actually help make things better yourself. Or offer to teach people how to correctly lock bikes up by volunteering to to a weekend class in coordination with a LBS.

that cop must have been bored as hell to bother with you ... lol

how do you know this guy just finds the bikes for garbage?

maybe the cop should be checking him out...

Because it is unlikely that he would go stealing them, having a job that pays $30 an hour, having a house and 3 kids
Finding bicycles in a garbage is surprisingly uncommon. I found a mint Peugeot frame two houses from where we rent.
The scrap guys drive through neighborhoods on garbage days a collect a lot of bikes. I know an old italian guy who does the same, he likes bicycles and has 100's of them in his yard (he brags of 1000's on his other property up north), though he does not know much about bikes or how to fix them, just feels bad they are thrown out. I bought a few high end vintage machines from him for $30 each, and there are more to come.
Some towns have a few weeks a year when people put out stuff they don't need but don't want to send to landfill. There are tons of bikes for takes. In Burlington ON I personally picked 8 bicycles this fall, four of which were not bad and one had a brand new Brooks "professional" saddle... So as you see there are plenty of ways to get free bikes legally.

Ever hear of Enron?

Should law enforcement only target people who look guilty? Maybe the should only profile people of a certain skin color. Or perhaps those originating from a particular geographic location.

Huh? This is a frightening statement.

In YOUR reality tunnel that's probably true....
don't bother responding, you are totally missing the point

It might seem frightening to you if taken out of context which is the case.

You might want to look around online a little, most of what I found was for a car, but I'd imagine an informal handwritten receipt would do...

Seller's name and address, your name, description of the item being sold/purchased, date, amount paid, and both of your signatures.

(this is not legal advice, and I am not a lawyer)

Man, you should write a letter to the police station thanking that cop for stopping you and checking everything out. I wish more cops would do this.

In Philly I think I could be dragging a corpse behind my bike and a cop would never bother to stop me.

As for people selling cheap bikes on the street... I always think it is shady. I dont care how many kids or houses you have, you can still be shady.

I have a house and three kids and I sell stolen bikes. Well, they're stolen from the garbage but it's still technically stealing, I was actually arrested for it believe it or not.

Never heard that taking stuff from garbage is stealing, I guess that's american laws.
Anyway, this thread turned into a bunch of reason defying nonsense.
I sign off.

Actually you're the one missing the point. A LEO observes something that may indicate a crime in commission. Perhaps that suspicion is based on recent activity in the area or prior arrests. The officer makes a perfectly legal stop and asks some simple questions.

Is being cooperative such an ordeal. Does it tax your ability to hold back the indignation that the man is trying to bring you down?

Man up lil camper.