Police to introduce Bait Bikes

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Comments

  • hisoka
    hisoka Posts: 541
    I saw that bike in Nottingham station and thought "that's so going to get nicked" agggges ago I thought.
    "This area left purposefully blank"
    Sign hung on my head everyday till noon.

    FCN: 11 (apparently)
  • Satu
    Satu Posts: 51
    Every time I see the title of this thread I think it's "Bat Bikes", and I picture something shiny black and zoomy. And then I look inside and no, it's still about bike theft. :(
  • dahut
    dahut Posts: 3
    I have to agree that an unlocked bike is entrapment. A bike merely lying about is abandoned. No rightful, right minded owner leaves his nice bike laying about. The idea is ludicrous.

    I have seen abandoned bikes on the side of the road many times, in fact. I'm certain they belonged to someone, at some point, but there they lay - day after day. If I stop and retrieve one - is that a crime?

    Finders Keepers and all that, eh?

    Ah, but a locked bike is different matter.That takes deliberate action - willful action - to nick off.
  • The Rookie
    The Rookie Posts: 27,812
    Morally it may be entrapment (I disagree), legally it is NOT, entrapment requires deliberate provocation by an 'officer of the state' and leaving a bike unlocked is passve act.

    Theft by finding is indeed a crime, hand it in to the police, if its unclaimed its then yours legally.

    For someone questioning the morality of bate bikes you have a strange moral code, what if that was someones locked bike stolen and then dumped, you find it unlocked and then steal it and the rightful owner never gets it back.....making you just as bad as the original theif.

    Let me know where you leave your bike, I'm sure I'll 'find' something on it I fancy...boot will be on the other foot then.

    Simon
    Currently riding a Whyte T130C, X0 drivetrain, Magura Trail brakes converted to mixed wheel size (homebuilt wheels) with 140mm Fox 34 Rhythm and RP23 suspension. 12.2Kg.
  • rjsterry
    rjsterry Posts: 27,745
    dahut wrote:
    I have to agree that an unlocked bike is entrapment. A bike merely lying about is abandoned. No rightful, right minded owner leaves his nice bike laying about. The idea is ludicrous.

    I have seen abandoned bikes on the side of the road many times, in fact. I'm certain they belonged to someone, at some point, but there they lay - day after day. If I stop and retrieve one - is that a crime?

    Finders Keepers and all that, eh?

    Ah, but a locked bike is different matter.That takes deliberate action - willful action - to nick off.

    Left mine outside a newsagent in Warlingham (unlocked) this very morning. Just popped in for a bottle of water, and didn't have a lock as I wasn't expecting to stop. If you had walked off with my bike, that would have been theft, clear and simple. If it's not yours, you can't just take it because it's not locked; what if you found someone's wallet. Maybe you shouldn't answer that one.
    1985 Mercian King of Mercia - work in progress (Hah! Who am I kidding?)
    Pinnacle Monzonite

    Part of the anti-growth coalition
  • dahut
    dahut Posts: 3
    Fortunately I am not theft minded. I wouldn't nick someones cycle that was just "there," as in the case of yours left outside the news agents. There is some discretion that must be applied.
    Let me find one in a ditch, somewhere, grown over with weeds and it just might find it's way to my garage. Regard that how you will.

    The point is, a case can be made for abandonment. It may be a weak case, admittedly, but the cops have set themselves up unless they force intent on the would be thieves.
  • rjsterry
    rjsterry Posts: 27,745
    Sorry, I seem to have got the wrong end of the stick there. Abandonment is a good point. As you imply, there's a big difference between something that has clearly been abandoned (overgrown with weeds in a ditch to take your example, or left in a skip) and something that is just unattended, but whether there is any legal difference I don't know. I can certainly imagine a clever lawyer arguing that their client assumed the bike was abandoned, and it would be difficult to prove that it was simply unattended.
    1985 Mercian King of Mercia - work in progress (Hah! Who am I kidding?)
    Pinnacle Monzonite

    Part of the anti-growth coalition
  • sebastiandangerfield
    sebastiandangerfield Posts: 98
    lost_in_thought wrote:
    Thaaaaaaaanks! :D

    Now I see, yes, you have a valid point. I would still like to get more info on the trackers police are using... Maybe they've found an iphone-4-esque way of incorporating the antenna into another component.

    Generally Police and other agencys, like MI5 use the QinetiQ Ocellus S100 tracking unit.

    http://www.qinetiq.com/home/products/ocellus_s100.html

    Obviously, can't say much on how they're used but the unit is predominantly battery. Inside, the actual reciever and transmitter is very small and would easily fit inside a bike. It also works on a GSM system for when there is no GPS.

    ETA, The one shown is the public equivalent of the surveillance unit as there's not much I could show. It differs slightly but it's generally the same.
  • The Rookie
    The Rookie Posts: 27,812
    As I pointed out, abandoned could be abandoned by a thief after he has finished with it, it could still be much appreciated back by the rightfull owner, as I said, take it to the Police, if its unclaimed its yours anyway, you just have to wait a bit!

    Simon
    Currently riding a Whyte T130C, X0 drivetrain, Magura Trail brakes converted to mixed wheel size (homebuilt wheels) with 140mm Fox 34 Rhythm and RP23 suspension. 12.2Kg.

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