hillsbreakme

I doubt the cop took your tent, if he did take it he would not have hesitated to tell you why. It was probably taken by the the person who blew the whistle on you in the first place. In small towns, people can get all puffed up when they catch "an outsider breaking the law". Consider yourself lucky he didn't write you a summons, you probably would have had to appear in court at a later date.

Neil_B

Let's go parsing the assumptions:

- you don't know the policeman is the only person aware the tent is in the park.
- you don't know the policeman is aware the tent is vacant.
- you don't know the tent was stolen (stolen is your word for the disappearance of the tent; I'd use quotation marks, but making you own your words seems to upset you.)

In other words, what you've presented is Occam's Butterknife, Bike Forums version; when the logical answers don't fit current standards for political correctness, search for a less plausible one that does.

Bike tourists often carry bandages. Could someone give some to positron? He's got some razor cuts.

Bekologist

I'm putting my money on the small town 'cop'. Small town illinois breeds some of the most foul official folk in my recollections. call those broad strokes but so be it.

Niles H.

"To immediately assume..." -- you're leaping here.

I did not assume. What I said is that it seems unlikely that it was someone else, based on what the OP has said.

There aren't a lot of homeless or other people wandering around Shannon, Illinois, a very small Midwest, law-abiding town, late at night. In the unlikely event that there was someone, what are the odds that the person would take the tent?

There is no certainty here, and no one said there was. Probabilities and main suspects are more like it.

Concerning evidence about crooked cops, I could go on with my own experiences and those of people I have met, but I don't have to. There is plenty of information available on this: You can find testimony from cops in prison, who come clean and describe what goes on. You can read accounts by game wardens, of their experiences with cops. They've written about busting cops for violating game laws. When confronted, the cops will often show their badges and expect special treatment, as if they are exempt, or beyond the law. The wardens say they are among the most blatant offenders, with the worst attitudes.

No one is saying they are all like this, just that many are.

In pot-growing areas of California, they are notorious for taking money from people they are busting.

I don't want to spend a lot more time on this subject. I'm sure there are plenty of accounts accessible with a search engine. There are also plenty of accounts in books; Amazon.com no doubt has plenty to offer. Criminolgists deal with this subject, and write about it. You can talk with some retired or imprisoned police officers, honest ones with nothing to hide, or read their accounts. You can find court cases and testimony. You can talk with lawyers. There's plenty of evidence, and plenty of ways of learning more about this.

Also, I never said he was "out to steal tents" (that's your idea you're putting forth, not mine) -- many such crimes are crimes of opportunity. It's a lot simpler and clearer than you are making it.

Niles H.

Positron: your thinking is clearer than your critics are.

Niles H.

And which statement is that, hopper ole friend?

Nigeyy

If his thinking was clear ("....the pig cop stole the tent") then anytime you get verbally abused by a motorist because they've had a bad experience with some other cyclists previously, you shouldn't be surprized!

To get back to the original topic -one thing is clear: none of the posters (including the OP) know who stole/took/whatever the tent, or what happened to it. Throwing around insults or trying to justify personally held prejudices is... well... what I've read many cyclists on this board complain about how other road users treat them.

Again, sorry to the OP for his tent loss. It really is a downer.

mijome07

Doesn't matter who took it. What does matter is that the OP learned a valuable lesson. Close thread.

unterhausen

I have a lot of family in small Midwestern towns. I'm going to say by the time the cop told the OP to leave, half the town knew about it. There are no doubt some really bored teenagers with a new tent. They still are probably talking about the whole incident.

electrik

Never leave your property unattended, i once heard that if you don't remember to lock a car door in Chicago that it means anything in your car is unattended and is free. This is how most people think. It doesn't matter Chicago or small town America. People are crooks.

Northwestrider

Just a thought. Did you ever call the police station to ask if they had taken it? I suppose there is a small chance it was thought, the tent was abandond.

Jerry L

I vote cop. No doubt in my mind.

foamy

That.

And it really was un-wise of the OP to leave his tent like that in those circumstances.

threecarjam

I once heard that if you don't remember to brush your teeth once, that means I'm free to punch you in the face and knock them all out. What a patently ridiculous statement. Most people? People are crooks? If you're that untrusting, then I'd suggest you stay home instead of riding your bike. And, for the record, I have spent plenty of time leaving my car unlocked in Chicago, and across the great state of Illinois, and in plenty of big cities and small towns around the USA. Only times I've ever had anything stolen were when my car was locked. Evidence that you should never lock your car? No, you probably should. Just sucks that my stuff got stolen. But I'll live.

No one here knows what happened to the OP's tent. Sucks for him. Maybe he's learned a lesson now, not that "people are crooks," but to be more careful, both in what you leave lying around a public place, and in how you approach camping out, outside of designated public camping areas. It's ridiculous for all of keyboard jockeys in here to have some miraculous psychic ability to see what happened. Maybe it was the cop. Maybe someone else in town. Maybe raccoons, maybe God, maybe aliens. Doesn't really matter that much, the tent's gone and (probably) not coming back, and again, that sucks.

Off topic rant:

This reply just struck me, as I can't imagine someone who clearly distrusts people so much traveling around in unfamiliar places, let alone doing it while on a bicycle. I'm jumping to conclusions, but it bugs me. I am preparing for my first, short, 300 mile bike tour, which is why I've been lurking around here, but have done much traveling across the country by bus, train, plane, car, foot, and many combinations. I've snuck onto trains and buses, I've hitchhiked from Newark to the Ozarks. I have depended on the kindness of strangers in small towns, suburbs, cities and rural areas, and have had very few instances of being let down - people aren't crooks, they're people. My plan for a few nights of my ride is to stop and ask at churches, fire stations, and country stores about possible camping spots - in places where there are no public campgrounds or other facilities for miles. I plan to do that early enough in the day that if need be, I can ride the 20 or 30 miles out of my way to make it to a state park, campground or motel before dark - not a great option, as I'll be a little pressed for time on this ride, but something I feel comfortable with. I don't anticipate huge problems, as I have no reason to believe that people will be anything other than people, which is to say, helpful when they can, but generally not out to get me. Or my stuff.

rhm

What a bummer. I salute OP for his daring and his trust of people, and I'm sorry he will have lost some of it. I'm not proud to say it, but I would never have left my tent like that, just because I'd be too worried.

I think I would have thanked the officer for suggesting a better place to camp, and asked his assistance getting my stuff there. It is their job to protect people (and their stuff), and I doubt he was too busy.

The speculations, about what happened, are interesting; they tell us a great deal about ourselves and absolutely nothing about what happened to the tent.

electrik

Sounds like you had a very different experience of Chicago, though your car was broken in to. After reading your rant i have to say one can distill it down to "people are people" unfortunately many people choose to take other people's things when there are no repercussions. That much seems like human nature. Call me a misanthrope for saying it, but one just has to look at our recent history to notice that certain people or groups of people have had everything stolen from them because they didn't have the power or ability to pose a negative consequence.

Bacciagalupe

I'm with RWblue on this one, some kid probably got it.

It sounds like you ran into the same cop later in the evening. If he was mad enough at you to seize and/or dump your tent, he probably would've nailed you for vagrancy at the gazebo and given you a free night's lodging in the drunk tank.

I do think it was bad form for you to camp out in a city park, and foolish to leave your tent unattended -- especially since you were just going to have to break it down anyway.

Next time:
- Get a list of campgrounds along your route, prior to leaving.
- If you're going to stealth camp, don't do it in a small park smack dab in the middle of a small town.
- Try not to leave any of your possessions unattended if you are in civilization.
- Don't take anything on tour that you can't afford to replace.

carkmouch

Thanks for all the replies. I know I should have asked around for a good place to camp beforehand, but I've camped a couple times in litte town parks like this with no problem, and I didn't think my being there alone and quiet with a tent would cause any trouble.

The cop was very respectful and I was respectful in kind. As much as many here suspect, I don't feel like the cop was in on the robbery. It was probably some neighborhood kids or methhead eying me and waiting for me to leave. I still need to contact the city and police department to follow up and see if they know anything new, and to prod/remind them about it.

I still have my Hennessy Hammock which I will have to use now for touring. I had it before I bought the REI tent, and with the hammock I usually stealth camped in the woods with no problems. But since I had the tent with me I found it easier and more enjoyable to camp more in the open.

Next time I will ask around and try to camp in a church yard, and also be sure to watch my stuff. It really sucks that my tent was robbed from me, but at least the bastards didn't steal my bike.

BengeBoy 

It's a testament to the general good nature of people that they are even willing to be helpful to travelers who "finance" part of their trips by stealing places on transport that the rest of us are paying for.

Brennan

I doubt it was the cop that took the tent. It's a shame, however, that law enforcement is obligated to hassle an obviously harmless bicycle tourist while much worse things are going on in that town...theft, for example.

whatsmyname

That sucks. Sorry to hear that, carkmouch.

I'm no fan of cops by any means but I do think it's more likely that a kid snatched it. Or for that matter maybe someone just came across it unattended in the middle of that night and thought it had been abandoned or left there by people from the day (I've seen people take sunscreens etc to parks although I admit not actual hiking tents), thought "I'll have that" and walked off with it, trying not to ask himself too many questions.

Some people who have posted didn't read this part.

hopperja

Sheep will be sheep.

a1rabbit

Who cares if what he did was dumb, he did not deserve to have his tent stolen to finish icing the cake.

Sucks man, I hope you get it back.

Jerry L

Why is it "bad form" to camp out in a city park ? I understand that it's not a campground, but what harm would there have been for the cop to check him out and simply ask him to be gone first thing in the morning ? Over the past years I've read of plenty of accounts of this happening (I've never been bothered). I guess I just take issue with cops hassling people just because they can.

Neil_B

Agreed.

Some background on Shannon, IL:

The town has less than 900 permanent residents. The Police Department has one full time officer and four part timers. The Parks department has one full time staffer.

The Village of Shannon's website mentions parks as an attraction of the town, but there's no information on the parks themselves or any Parks department. Google maps shows what appears to be a one block park in the center of town and a baseball field on the SE side of the village, abutting what appears to be farmland. There are also three churches in town, plus a school and cemetery.

It would be helpful if the OP could describe just where he camped. Was it a park? And where did the policeman direct him to?