Police And Thieves

Thanks Tynan,
My cynical thoughts too;just can't stop mentally beating myself in for being lulled into a sunny afternoon lapse of awareness.These guys know what they're looking for and execute a quick pro job within seconds.

Happens to us all - I have had quite a few bikes stolen. Where you insured ? Does your purchase include insurance anywhere in the small print ? Was it bought by credit card ?

I know the feeling only too well :(

Police said they'd check out CCTV but what good is that???

Excuse my continuing cynicism, but I doubt they will bother (regardless of what they tell you) - and to be fair to the police, they (unfortunately for the victims of bike theft) have better things to follow up.

I had a bike stolen from just near the tills of Budgens in Belsize Park, I brought it into the shop left it within sight and wondered around, checking down the elise every now and again to see if it was still there, eventually it wasn't. Some bastard nicked it.

Informed the police, they told me they would check the CCTV footage (now bear in mind most shops run a cyclic tape based CCTV system with tapes cycled weekly with a tape put in for each day - ie: this Monday's recordings wipe over last Mondays' recordings).

Passing Budgens a few days later I wondered in, asked the manager how it was all going, any sign of the bike or bike thief and so on . . . nothing to report, I also casually asked whether the police got the CCTV footage alright and whether there was a decent image of the bastard who nicked my bike, he told me that the police had not been in and that they never bother, even when bags are stolen, shoplifters caught, kids chucking dustbins through the window (true story!) and so on - they never bother.

But he gave me the CCTV footage (a ropey old VHS cassette) which I took to the police station to get them to have a look at - but they basically refused as firstly no one was around to see me and they simply would not have the time, they would not even let me leave the tape there as they could not legally accept it (or something like that).

So . . . you may have better luck, but to be brutally honest, it is unlikely. This kind of thing is not rare, it would seem to be standard procedure if not official procedure, the article below kind of sums it up.

*Police too busy to probe Portsmouth station bike theft:
Richard Deakin had his bike stolen after leaving it at Portsmouth and Southsea railway station

28 June 2008

A man whose bike was stolen under the nose of a CCTV camera has been told the police don't have time to look at the footage.
Richard Deakin was stunned to be told the force doesn't have the resources to examine a video of a crook stealing his bike.

And police have said that to investigate the crime further he ought to examine the CCTV footage himself.

Mr Deakin's bike was stolen from a cycle shed fitted with a CCTV camera at Portsmouth & Southsea railway station.

Mr Deakin, 23, of Castle Road, Southsea, said: 'It's madness. What's the point of having a CCTV camera there?'

Mr Deakin left his bike, as usual, at the station at 8am so he could catch a train to work in Littlehampton. It was locked with two bike locks.

He works in a children's home and stayed overnight and got the train back the following morning. He was then devastated to discover his £250 racing bike had been snatched.

But thinking the bike was overlooked by a CCTV camera, he assumed the culprit would be easy to catch. However, when he contacted British Transport Police, he was shocked by the response.

Mr Deakin said: 'I was told they didn't have the resources to look at the CCTV and I should claim on my insurance.

'I asked what that meant and said 'Does that mean you don't have time?' 'He said 'basically, yes'.'

BTP said that all incidents are prioritised according to the nature of the crime. All violent crimes, including assaults, murders, and robbery, caught on CCTV will be looked at without exception. But footage of minor crimes – namely bike thefts and mobile phone thefts – will only be looked at if they know it happened within a nine-hour time frame.

The footage was not examined because the theft of Mr Deakin's bike happened over 24 hours. Natalie Davison, a spokeswoman for BTP, said it was not a 'policy', but a general 'rule of thumb'. Each incident was dealt with on a case-by-case basis.

Sergeant Derek Bish, who heads a seven-strong team of BTP officers in Portsmouth, said: 'It is important, but we do not have infinite resources to deal with things. I would love to say yes. Is it the best use of police time to have someone sitting for hours looking at CCTV or out on high-visibility patrols on a train?'*