Recovery of a Stolen Bike: video
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- This topic has 24 replies, 17 voices, and was last updated 12 years, 6 months ago by
MCL1981.
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August 16, 2012 at 4:52 pm #948801
DaveK
Participant@MCL1981 28473 wrote:
This is however a good time to mention… You should put some inconspicuous markings on the bike with an engraver. Like your initials and birthday or last four or something. That when the police say “How do you know this bike is yours”, you can point to the personally identifiable information on it. Something more than “Well I bought these cool tires and that is my favorite style fork”.
My favorite trick is to write a note detailing your ownership of the bike and put it inside the endcap of the handlebar, then replace the endcap. If it ever gets stolen and you’re in a situation where it’s in question (i.e. proving it’s yours to a cop) just pop the end cap off the handlebar and ask the thief how it got there.
August 16, 2012 at 5:21 pm #948809bobco85
Participant@MCL1981 28473 wrote:
This is however a good time to mention… You should put some inconspicuous markings on the bike with an engraver. Like your initials and birthday or last four or something. That when the police say “How do you know this bike is yours”, you can point to the personally identifiable information on it. Something more than “Well I bought these cool tires and that is my favorite style fork”.
Wouldn’t registering your bike be enough? I mean, you give the bike serial number when registering your bike (it’s engraved on the bottom of the bike between the pedals), which will be stored in the police database (at least in Arlington County, it is). I figure it’d be easy to determine that a bike was stolen if that serial number is found to be scratched out.
August 16, 2012 at 5:32 pm #948810krazygl00
Participant@baiskeli 28456 wrote:
Yes, it is weird to feel “badLY”. It means you have a medical problem.
Well spank you very much, Grammy Grammarton!
August 16, 2012 at 5:39 pm #948813Tim Kelley
ParticipantAugust 16, 2012 at 6:10 pm #948816JorgeGortex
Participant@DaveK 28474 wrote:
My favorite trick is to write a note detailing your ownership of the bike and put it inside the endcap of the handlebar, then replace the endcap. If it ever gets stolen and you’re in a situation where it’s in question (i.e. proving it’s yours to a cop) just pop the end cap off the handlebar and ask the thief how it got there.
I was thinking the same sort of thing. Except putting the note inside the seat tube. If it was rolled tight enough, the note would fall back out easily if the bike was turned over. Also protects against losing your note if they swap bars… but if they swap seatpost/saddle like the thief had done, this trick might not have worked either.
August 16, 2012 at 6:11 pm #948818Certifried
Participant@JorgeGortex 28490 wrote:
I was thinking the same sort of thing. Except putting the note inside the seat tube. If it was rolled tight enough, the note would fall back out easily if the bike was turned over. Also protects against losing your note if they swap bars… but if they swap seatpost/saddle like the thief had done, this trick might not have worked either.
You could just paint your entire bike pink. When it comes time to recover your bike, wear all pink. No one will question you.
August 16, 2012 at 6:14 pm #948820JorgeGortex
Participant@bobco85 28411 wrote:
I’m glad the guy got his bike back, but I would never try and get it back in that way as it would be too risky. The thief could have had a weapon on him. Also, it irked me when they said that the thief almost got away with it had they not gathered this evidence (confession by the thief that he knew it was stolen).
I think this guy had scoped things pretty well before confronting him, otherwise I’d agree. He checked him out before he approached him and started the ruse. I think the owner lost his cool a little soon too. Might have avoided the walkabout. Looks like the officers were helpful this time around too.
In any case, owner- 1, stupid thief with stupid gf- 0
August 16, 2012 at 7:36 pm #948831baiskeli
ParticipantAugust 16, 2012 at 8:20 pm #948837PotomacCyclist
ParticipantI’m glad the thief was caught, but I also agree that the owner was lucky that the thief was not also a violent criminal with a weapon. You never know if a thief is also capable of deadly assault.
One nitpick: The phone number doesn’t really provide evidence of where the person lives, not in the modern day. Many people move around. If it’s a cell number, the person may just keep the number, which may have an area code from the previous place of residence. Many people in the D.C. area, for example, have cell numbers with area codes from their home states (outside of the metro area).
Same thing with Internet phones. Those numbers are not tied to physical locations. It’s not a secret that you can get numbers from other area codes or even other central office codes (the 3 digits of the main 7-digit number). This has been publicly available for many years. It’s not expensive either. You can also get international numbers for a reasonable price. I hope this doesn’t give any criminals any ideas, but these products have been sold by well-known legitimate companies for many years, maybe close to a decade.
Only phone numbers from the traditional phone companies are tied to physical location. But even their cell numbers and Internet phone products also offer the flexibility of area codes from somewhere other than the current place of residence.
In any case, I think the serious criminals use temporary cellphones to hide their identity. (At least that’s what they do on TV detective shows!)
August 16, 2012 at 11:48 pm #948842MCL1981
ParticipantThe video didn’t really say what kind of phone he allegedly tracked down. I wouldn’t be surprised if the phone information he got was not really as special as he thought it was. However, he clearly did his homework on this as much as a civilian could do. And he brought backup. And he brought audio/video. So he was indeed well prepared. The only thing I think he should have done differently (other than tazing him repeatedly), was better timed the confrontation with the police arrival.
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