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@VanUden
No !
:)
Of course my opening gambit was inflammatory. And based on a generalisation that's difficult if not impossible to prove. But that's obvious. It's like saying 'I think you hate cheese because it's yellow and therefore you're racist'. However, that aside, there have been numerous times on the forum when I've been surprised at the lack of positive feedback for the police when they do finally start listening to us (cyclists) or rather policy has changed.
For example, Brick Lane has been known as a place to shift stolen bikes for years and for years cyclists and people on this forum have been saying 'why don't the police do something about it'. Bicycle theft generally in London hasn't really been taken seriously. Until recently. On the Stolen Bikes thread Oliver posted links to the new police initiative to properly crack down on bike theft. I was impressed to see something finally being done:
http://www.lfgss.com/thread123-82.html
The link is at the top of the page. But when you read down the page we still see negative comments about the police; now they are doing something. And nothing positive. Comments like this:
"If the Brick lane market is so well know as an outlet for stolen bikes etc why dont the police do something? I realise they are to busy being PC and to scared that they may step on a few toes but surely if there is no paper trail to the bike on sale they get confiscated.
Seems that the police are there as window dressing where every you go."
And this:
"the thing is...We now have a 30 strong police task for assigned to tackling bike theft in the city...last week was there first week, they hung around the bagel shop and kisses a few babys heads...(interpret that how you will if it's rudeand mean though doesn't insinuate child abuse then all well and good)...."
Oliver then goes on to post a link to more good news about cracking down on bike theft:
http://lydall.standard.co.uk/2010/06/how-two-of-londons-worst-bike-thieves-were-snared-by-police.html
An article that finishes off by saying that where they had been getting five bikes reported stolen every day in that area, after the arrests not one was reported stolen for over two weeks. So, it certainly looks to me as if the police's actions have sent out a message to bike thieves. But the thing is after Oliver posted this and he said 'Anyway, just a small bit of good news in all the gloom' nobody commented on what the police had achieved, not one person.
It certainly seems that the police are damned if they do and damned if they don't.
I hope that this new initiative against bike theft is really successful, sends out the message to thieves that bike theft is now being taken seriously and consequently reduces it further. And don't forget that from reading the Stolen Bikes thread the bikes that are getting stolen are often completely inadequately locked in the first place. How frustrating must this be for the cops? As long as we continue to lock a grands worth of Hetchins with a waxed shoelace we're continuing to make bike theft an easy option.