I'm still amazed at the difference in petty theft here vs London. Not to say stuff doesn't get robbed but it's so much less prevalent. LAPD are certainly no angels but at least they'll have a go chasing thieves and if they nick them, they generally go down. The Met are useless, always have been.
Fucked up, but makes sense. They go for a fair bit of cash and are near impossible to track.
Same way whole front end is stolen on bikes. See that weekly.