Bike thefts soar by 75% as organised crime gangs move in

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23731158-details/Bike+thefts+soar+by+75+per+cent+as+organised+crime+gangs+move+in/article.do

time to shame the police into actually doing something about the problem rather than blaming the victims?

those youts aren't organised

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tit18nRnJaY

igor kenk .... now thats organised. might make you sick or angry though or maybe both.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ZPzQ_60Ov8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWZRjc8vpj8

sorry if this is reposted. EDIT: it has been mentioned before

sorry if i missed something.

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23731158-details/Bike+thefts+soar+by+75+per+cent+as+organised+crime+gangs+move+in/article.do

time to shame the police into actually doing something about the problem rather than blaming the victims?

This is London my friend.

The guy in the picture doesn't look very organised at all... he's not even looking the right way yo spot the person taking a picture of him.

Sneaky git fail.

We've certainly waded in on the comments section. Good work.

Interesting seeing the breakdown of areas. My new work is in Covent Garden, fortunately on a main street.

I do think there is a real undertone here of blame aimed at cyclists and employers. Why should we carry two big heavy locks? If they did a bit of old fashioned criminal catching, or showed some interest in it, that would really help.

I just had my bike security marked for free by police in soho. Suppose that almost counts as trying right?

We've certainly waded in on the comments section. Good work.

Not any more.... they have been disabled / deleted.

Hmm, I can still see them.

hmm, they have gone for me too. a glitch perhaps?

I seriously think you could just write a 2 word article, "bicycles exist" and you'd get a load of rabid right-wing twats going on about lycra louts ignoring the rules of the road.

at least reporting bike theft and crime helps statistics. which is no bad thing

He said: "One reason is that there are a lot more people cycling, and another is that because it's more popular, there is more of a market for stolen bicycles. I am a keen cyclist so I do feel for people and know how infuriating it must be."

I think the key word there is MARKET

perhaps if the old bill to a trip down to THE STOLEN BICYCLE MARKET* a bit more often, this would help.

*you know which one, which is exactly the problem.

I can't help but reflect that, as far as I can tell, the entire effort of the Police is to get bicycles registered on Immobilise so that it is easier to get them back to the owner after they've been stolen. There doesn't appear to be much effort at actually apprehending thieves, not preventing theft in the first place by addressing the market for these stolen bikes (I suspect similar arguments could be made for all sorts of property theft).

The argument appears to be: 'Your bike will be stolen, but tell the Police you own it and if we happen to find it you might get it back'.

Reassuring, really, and yet more support for taking control of this yourself. Buy decent locks, use them properly, think about where you lock your bike, and have insurance for when the inevitable happens.

The guy in the picture doesn't look very organised at all... he's not even looking the right way yo spot the person taking a picture of him.

Sneaky git fail.

it's the same person in thelondonpaper yesterday in the bike section actually, just different angle.

had alot of mates in toronto find their bikes back in that raid! that dude terrorized the city for ages! i would say i'm happy to have moved to london to reduce crime levels.... but that would be a huge lie.

He said: "One reason is that there are a lot more people cycling, and another is that because it's more popular, there is more of a market for stolen bicycles. I am a keen cyclist so I do feel for people and know how infuriating it must be."

I think the key word there is MARKET

precisely.

If people stop buying stolen bike (and the worse thing is, they know it's stolen), theft find it harder to sell their stock of stolen bicycle, thus theft less likely to steal more bike when there's a smaller/no market for it.

If you arrest theft, they'll carry on if people still willing to buy stolen bike.

ah shit... now I feel an overwhelming urge to go and rescue my bike from outside and keep it next to me all day.

It means (assuming you have the the seat post, front wheel and headset) that your stolen bike cannot then be broken down to pieces- thus making it a lot easier to spot.

Ahhh i can rest easy now my contribution to the great bike theft debate has been aired on site.

The idea that bike serial numbers should be used when selling a bike is a wicked idea! if they were all listed with the police then you could prove it was yours and arrest the seller Lenny style.. but they would have a registry of people and bikes.. who would pay for that... and how....

I need to tattoo the serial number on my arm, no way the theft can says it's not mine!

[
time to shame the police into actually doing something about the problem rather than blaming the victims?

so this happened (?)...

... as, a year later, the Cycle Task Force arrived, :-)

(and all our cycling crime problems began to get solved, and cyclists cycled in Lundun-town happily ever after; the end)