Owner 1 v Thief 0

SamFishlock

You're right in that force's don't seem to talk to each other and it's a shame that one woman's attitude has tarnished your opinion of a whole Police force.

Do you feel hard done by that you had to do some digging yourself? Do you think there are Officers employed to search websites all day for stolen property? I think in todays world it is unrealistic to just report a crime to the Police and expect them to pursue every enquiry you could possibly think of. If my bike was stolen I would be trawling websites and getting information myself, I wouldn't be expecting warranted Officers to do stuff like that.

SamFishlock

Pesky Jones wrote:

SamFishlock wrote:

Pesky Jones wrote:

Because that is SHITE

It doesn't even make sense. What can't they do anything about? Just because an address falls somewhere doesn't mean there isn't a Police force or Officer somewhere that can't/won't action it. There isn't enough information there to have enough facts to class 'The Police' as shite.

I'm sorry, you do agree that the fact that they won't investigate a crime if it falls metres outside their "boundary" - is shite, right?

County borders are there for a reason. It's not like you see in films where if another Force goes into another border they have no 'jurisdiction', but it becomes the other Force's responsibility in law to act upon. If the address fell within Chester and you rang Cumbria/Wales you'd get a similar response.

pesky_jones

Two chirstmas's ago my mums car was stolen. We live in Hertfordshire. We heard nothing for ages. Six months later we got an answer message from the police telling us they had recovered the car and arrested the bloke. We called the police back and explained that we were calling about the stolen car. They refused to accept they had recovered the car and arrested the bloke. It was Essex police that called the first time, we spoke to Herts police. SHITE

SamFishlock

Pesky Jones wrote:

Two chirstmas's ago my mums car was stolen. We live in Hertfordshire. We heard nothing for ages. Six months later we got an answer message from the police telling us they had recovered the car and arrested the bloke. We called the police back and explained that we were calling about the stolen car. They refused to accept they had recovered the car and arrested the bloke. It was Essex police that called the first time, we spoke to Herts police. SHITE

So you have no constructive response to my comment, so come up with that. Do you realise how stupid that sounds?

I give up.

jadamson

I still view highly of the police after this, as you said I cant thank them enough!

However the system could definitely be improved somewhat. At the end of the day I had an address for the guy and sufficient evidence to bust him however it took them nearly 2 days to do something about it because they don't talk to each other/cross boarder issues. What was also an issue was that I was given an officer in Cumbria to contact since he was in charge of the case however I couldnt always get into contact with him and he didnt work weekends and had days off. It was very hard to get someone else to take the case on or do anything about it, all I wanted was someone to pass the address on to the constabulary who could deal with it. It could have been dealt with earlier if there wasnt all this going around. I have the address, his number, all the evidence you need - it just needed someone to allocate it to the correct force, which did happen in the end but I had to wait for 1 guy to come back into work.

Overall the police cannot be blamed, I fell like they tried to help as much as they could its just all this system and bureaucracy bull that ultimately slowed it down.

pesky_jones

I see what your're saying but I really dont understand how someone can fail to see how ridiculous it is. I thought if i gave an extreme example, you might see.

SamFishlock

jadamson wrote:

I still view highly of the police after this, as you said I cant thank them enough!

However the system could definitely be improved somewhat. At the end of the day I had an address for the guy and sufficient evidence to bust him however it took them nearly 2 days to do something about it because they don't talk to each other/cross boarder issues. What was also an issue was that I was given an officer in Cumbria to contact since he was in charge of the case however I couldnt always get into contact with him and he didnt work weekends and had days off. It was very hard to get someone else to take the case on or do anything about it, all I wanted was someone to pass the address on to the constabulary who could deal with it. It could have been dealt with earlier if there wasnt all this going around. I have the address, his number, all the evidence you need - it just needed someone to allocate it to the correct force, which did happen in the end but I had to wait for 1 guy to come back into work.

Overall the police cannot be blamed, I fell like they tried to help as much as they could its just all this system and bureaucracy bull that ultimately slowed it down.

Agreed. I have a lot of involvement with the Police and all I can say is that two days is fast. :-)

ej2320

Pesky Jones wrote:

I see what your're saying but I really dont understand how someone can fail to see how ridiculous it is. I thought if i gave an extreme example, you might see.

I agree however don't blame the police, If the laws restricting the police dipping their toes into next doors border we lifted they could deal with it rather than fafing around filling out the paper work and sending a message around the different areas

pesky_jones

Oh yeah, don't get me wrong, I dont think the individual officer who tells the public that they can't do anything about it - is shite. I think the system, laws or restrictions or whatever allows it to happen - is shite.

ej2320

Then they wonder why people take it into their own hands and confront the thief.. If they didn't have to spend so long messing about with the legal system people wouldn't worry about timing. All the officer really has to do is create a fake gumtree account, enquire about it, arrange a viewing and take the bike. As myself and Hugehero proved it takes a matter of hours to have all this information... But I suspect the legal system prevents them from doing that

pesky_jones

ej2320 wrote:

Then they wonder why people take it into their own hands and confront the thief.. If they didn't have to spend so long messing about with the legal system people wouldn't worry about timing. All the officer really has to do is create a fake gumtree account, enquire about it, arrange a viewing and take the bike. As myself and Hugehero proved it takes a matter of hours to have all this information... But I suspect the legal system prevents them from doing that

Exactly! Twenty years ago that's what they probally would have done!

SamFishlock

ej2320 wrote:

Then they wonder why people take it into their own hands and confront the thief.. If they didn't have to spend so long messing about with the legal system people wouldn't worry about timing. All the officer really has to do is create a fake gumtree account, enquire about it, arrange a viewing and take the bike. As myself and Hugehero proved it takes a matter of hours to have all this information... But I suspect the legal system prevents them from doing that

The biggest delay is usually finding an Officer that is available to take full details and carry out the search and arrest. They are so thin on the ground and have to spend so much time carrying out 'arse covering' exercises that by the time an Officer is even made aware of your report of crime it's a day or two old. Don't forget that the Police don't just deal with crime, they have to contend with mental health calls, child protection, social services, public events, suicide risks, housing issues, evictions, and so on.

Exactly! Twenty years ago that's what they probally would have done!

Twenty years ago they didn't have to worry about Gumtree, ebay, etc. They would have probably known the little ick that done it and just gone to his house. Crime is more complicated now.

Edit: Also, no one wonders why people take it into their own hands. The Police completely understand why people do.

ej2320

Either way, if my bike was nicked I'd find the address.. Then take some friends, all of who are over 6 ft

pesky_jones

SamFishlock wrote:

Exactly! Twenty years ago that's what they probally would have done!

Twenty years ago they didn't have to worry about Gumtree, ebay, etc. They would have probably known the little ick that done it and just gone to his house. Crime is more complicated now.

Yeah that's fair enough I agree

Team4Luke

but how do you go about proving beyond any doubt that a bike for sale is "yours" when stolen and appears for sale. Unlikley can be done from photo, so it must be done on visit, with Police obviously. While I'm asking this, really I'm saying to everyone, make your own "markings" together with close up photos

brucie45

Great news, glad you got your bike back.

I hope the little toe rag will not get off lightly like alot of bike thieves do

Kowalski675

Glad you got the bike back, but very stupid leaving it in the car overnight in the first place.

coulddobetter

Good result . However there is absolutely no way I would put a photo of me , my bike , my car and it's reg no on a public site . Could well be asking for more trouble !

veronese68

Excellent, glad the bike was recovered.
I would like to stick my oar in with my experience with police and recovering a stolen bike. The OP did exactly the right thing with trawling the internet and posting all over the web. If you want to get a stolen bike back you will have to do a lot of the donkey work yourself. Report it initially, but the police are massively overworked and looking for one bike is going to be a low priority, but you need a reference number. If you find your bike, then get back to them and give them the details. But don't leave it at that. I had to make a real nuisance of myself to get the police to take me seriously and get anything done, that was frustrating. But through persistence and sheer bloody mindedness I got it back. The seller got away with it as he claimed he'd bought it at a market.
It was nearly 6 weeks before my bike appeared for sale, supposedly some thieves wait in the hope that the original owner has stopped looking. I nearly had given up by then. Frame numbers of stolen bikes are not shared between forces, seems incredible. You need to get your bike marked by the police, I think it's called Bike Register, as that is on a national database and if your bike is recovered it can be traced back to you.

Woody80

Team4Luke wrote:

but how do you go about proving beyond any doubt that a bike for sale is "yours" when stolen and appears for sale. Unlikley can be done from photo, so it must be done on visit, with Police obviously. While I'm asking this, really I'm saying to everyone, make your own "markings" together with close up photos

I've logged all of the frame numbers of mine now. Managed to get the last one back purely on scratch protection patches! I could describe exact locations and luckily they had a logo. That coupled with the fact that the bike obviously wasn't the new "owners" was enough for the police to seize and return. Couldn't fault them.

Same as this story though in that I had to do the leg work but you can't expect it to be any other way.

OP - Glad you got your bike back!

Kowalski675

coulddobetter wrote:

Good result . However there is absolutely no way I would put a photo of me , my bike , my car and it's reg no on a public site . Could well be asking for more trouble !

I thought that was pretty daft too, you'd think he'd be more careful, given the recent events.

jadamson

What is he going to do with a car reg? and a picture of me? good luck finding me....

Kowalski675

Easy enough to find out what address the car's registered to (I never post any pics of vehicles of mine on t'internet without obscuring the registration) and your town's listed in your sidebar, so if anyone from your local area's reading then there's a good chance they might recognise the location. Why take any kind of risk like that? I would've thought after what's just happened you'd have a bit more common sense. :roll:

paulneenan76

One of the best posts I've ever read. Just brilliant, overcoming a theiving bloody yob!

Nice one to all involved.

Paul

welshkev

all my dealings with the police they've been pretty shite to be honest.

but fair play to the OP and the police who got your bike back

capoz77

Concur I would take the car reg and location pic down, just because.

Great story though, the brake cable is hilarious!! Can you ask the police to get your hopes back from his address?

and also what did he want for it on gumtree?

Makes me sick when £3k bikes go for a few hundred quid.

ej2320

capoz77 wrote:

Concur I would take the car reg and location pic down, just because.

Great story though, the brake cable is hilarious!! Can you ask the police to get your hopes back from his address?

and also what did he want for it on gumtree?

Makes me sick when £3k bikes go for a few hundred quid.

When I found it on gumtree it was £1,100 then it went up to £1,300

Briggo

ilovedirt wrote:

So I guess the lesson is, don't leave your bike in your car - I've heard of loads of people having had this happen (know a couple personally). Don't leave expensive bikes in your car! They're just asking to be nicked! (as well as not usually being covered by insurance. Another lesson - insure your bike).
Glad you got it back though mate, I'd hate to have mine nicked.

Depends, I feel a lot more secure leaving my bike in the car rather than on it via roof or rear rack, it's more viewable and easily stolen outside of.

Most household insurance companies do actually cover if its in a locked vehicle or locked to a vehicle i.e. via a rack, you just need to check the wording.

How did they prize the door open though, cars are deadlocked these days and have been for years and subsequently what about the alarm going off?

jadamson

It was in the rear of my car since I needed to pack the night before, there was no other was around it really and as stated before it was all secured together in a locked car in a private car park.

It was covered under the household insurance because it was inside my locked car but the insurance was only able to cover about half the value! Since Ive recovered it I have cancelled the insurance to protect my no claims.

Its a 1997 Land Rover Defender so doors were a little easier to break into back then! unfortunately.

Subsequently this experience has made me a lot more conscious about protecting my valuables, so all bikes are registered, recent pictures taken and additional locks brought. Cant do more than that really.