Many thanks for your comments fellas, appreciated. I went to my local garage this morning and they said that quite a few customers are getting their bikes nicked in and around the Bromley area, a couple of youths have been seen on a moped, one jumps off and breaks the steering and jumps on it and then the other pushes him along on his moped by sticking his foot on the rear footpeg, its even been noticed that on ocassion the alarm is going off and they take off down the road, so if you see anyone on a moped pushing a bike along you know whats happened. Police wise (and I used to be a copper before I came round to my senses) there isn't much priority put on bike theft, whatever the reasons for this whether funding or allocation of officers it just means that these thiefs have the upper hand until more focus is put on the youths on their mopeds or men and women with vans taking them. Deterrent wise I am not sure what works anymore, the alarms dont seem to do much, steering locks are no match, you would think that with all the money that Honda have they could invent a steering lock that refuses to be broken by anyone, then you have disc locks which I think can make the theft take a bit longer and can eliminate the moped pushing method possibly. Who knows what to do... I dont
The sad truth is you can't make your property invulnerable, it just needs to be slightly more hassle to filch than the poor bastard's parked next to it. Not much solace to them, but even the most professional villain is an opportunist at heart.
Bad news Mate. I hope under the circumstances everything turns out ok for you. And I really home that Karma that everyone talks about makes an appearance real soon
I know how ya feel. Happened to me. Bike was alarmed, disc lock, oxford monster, parked in underground 'secure' car park, security bloke manning the barrier, cctv. Was parked 7 minutes. Gone.
Sorry to hear that mate, videos of thefts popping up on utube lately with several clear mugshots in progress of theft and they still get away with it. I think the manufacturer's should be looking into security a bit more as they make it look so easy!
Sadley the police response you mention is just too typical.... i have some knowledge of this, and when reported a vehicle (bike or car) will simply be placed on the Police National Computer as stolen and if its recent then observations will be put over the radio...... done ! No Ebay trawling, no visits to neighbours with information they are known to nick bikes........ its all just too much work and hassle for them. A very sad state of affairs regarding '' justice ''.
Before i start this post i think all bike thieves should burn in hell. I hate them, the thieving bastards should get a job. However It Really grips my shit the comments on the police. Do you think we all don't give a shit? It all sounds very easy report bike stolen or car or anything. Now they haven't yet given us a crystal ball to look into to find the theiving gits. It goes like this. At the time of reporting the stolen vehicle will be put on the PNC massive tool in finding a lot of stolen bikes. Now in a case as above. A bike is stolen from a car park. No one has seen anything. Report made and it's circulated. Unless there is a lead to go on there is very little that can be done. Other than look for the bike out on patrol IF there is evidence of who stole the bike then this in my experience will always be followed up. What people forget is the people who steal decent bikes/cars are very good at what they do and the bike will disappear off the streets very quickley. The police need grounds to suspect someone has stolen the bike. Even if there is a local scum bag who is known to nick bikes we can't just invite ourselves into their property without evidence. Although I will always go and hassle them. Trust me! The police get beaten up all the time and 99% of the cops out their do a great job but people don't realise how short we are on the streets. For example last night at my nick there was 7 of us to cover an area that's 45 mins on blues lights from one side of the county to the next. Lobby your MP's! Now on a positive note. Last week we chased and caught a white van. In the back of it was a 12 plate R1 and two brand new R125s. All returned to a farther and his two sons. Also a police dog caught the driver of the van he didn't enjoy that! Wanna know what he got at court????.......... F**K all. 100hrs community service which he won't do. 23 hr shift i did on that job and for what?? But I carry on. Oh and he's suing the police for being bitten by a dog. Which no doubt he will get 20k from. We are out there doing the best we can do with the tools we have. Please cut the police some slack. I know some of you have had bad experiences with the police but we ain't all bad :-/ Rant over.
I understand that some police go out their way to do thme job, however when I was 16 I had my first bike stolen (DT50) me and my dad found and followed 3 local travellers down the main road on it (yes 3!) all 15 and 16 years old. We called the police and 7 or 8 of them met us. I showed them the 3 people told them their names and while watching them ride up and down the police told us there is nothing they can do and drove away! Now not only did they have my pride and joy they could of injured someone else. Here's the best bit, I decided to leave my dad in the car knocked them off the bike and ok maybe I shouldn't of done but gave them a bit of a kicking, only to be disturbed by the same bunch of police who chucked me in the back of a van. After going to court I was put on tag for 30 days and had a 6pm curfew!!! They got nothing infact the police were letting them walk away with the bike again after I was arrested, only reason they didnt take it again was because my old man asked the police what they were doing! Like I said not having ago about all police just quite a few of them lol A friend of mine is actually a copper and he has a worse option of them than me lol
I know where you're coming from Phantom and I don't think there are many on here that truly speak out of a wish to attack the police, or the work you do at a personal level. There's a frustration that comes from the awareness of the very restrictions in both the sheer scale of the task set before you and what we all perceive as justice system out of step with fair punishment. It's just that your frustration is, an needs to be focused internally and swallowed so that you can continue to work within these restrictions whereas ours, more often as not, is expressed as anger and retribution at, and in my personal opinion, unfortunately, at the only interface with the system we can interact with, the thin blue line. I'm sorry that this is the case, truly, but it is a sad fact of the situation. I don't know how many on here I speak for but I suspect many, but I'm thankful that I've got you guys out there at my back.
Unfortunately phantom, most motorists have a bad opinion of the BIB. This stems from traffic coppers, and their sneaky ways in which to fine motorists. Hiding behind hedges and in the back of vans, or pulling and fining for a small plate. Discretion is needed in some cases surely? Otherwise the bib on the whole, get a tarnished reputation based on this. Also, the law is bollox regarding the thieving scumbags, and criminals on the whole. Community service??? That's a joke, and fines that are paid a quid a week. No wonder more and more people are going vigilante, and kicking the living shit out of criminals if the victim catches them on the rob. I wouldn't think twice of wrapping a bar around a thieves knees and doing damage. We pay for stuff that is the fruits of our hard work and savings, get fooked by the insurance companies if we make a claim, and the thief gets away Scott free. The victim seems the criminal in this way, as we lose out every time. The public would have more respect for the BiB if they and the courts come down on the criminals properly, not some half arsed attempt. Sad, but true. It's about time we, as a country, stopped being namby and all politically correct, put funds into proper surveillance instead of roadside yellow boxes and sneaky cameras, and have CCTV that works ALL the time in car parks, and identifies the criminals from the footage. They can sure identify drivers through a windscreen when it suits them or there's money to be made. Yes, a good mate is a bobby, and he agrees modern policing and laws has gone to shit.
Gutted about your bike mate. I'm originally from Bromley but moved away around 10 years ago as see it going down hill and didn't want my lad growing up there. Saying that I had two mates that had bikes nicked from the little sleeping village I now live in, one from outside his front window, the other from a very secure garage, so these sorts of things happen everywhere. My bikes are locked in a garage thats attached to he house, one of the cars is always reversered up against the door, he bikes are belled up. I've been told (don't know I it's complete bollox) that more bikes get knicked from garages than from the street. The one security device I rely on at home is Reg, our cross mastiff boxer! When your out it's a different story, the shit's just pick the bikes up and load them in a van.Get the frustration with the system, but not individaul coppers themselves, I have friends and family that are in the force, some of which ride and like the rest of us like to have fun, they are just as pissed by these sorts of things but like the rest of us are given priorities and instructions whilst at work. There's arseholes in every profession, but let's remember that traffic cops are just that, they police the roads, are the ones that have to go scraping people up and informing their nearest and dearest- lay off dudes, the forums not meant to slate individuals professions, I fooking hate bus drivers, how many of us have had bad experiences with garages? Doesn't make all bus drivers and manchanics bad people. And no, I'm not a copper and I have had some shit experiences at times.
I totally agree! I'm sick of Putting time and all my energy into a system that is totally floored :-(
I think an example of this is the recent Govenment proposal to increase motoring fines by 50% this is yet another example of the decent man /women in the street getting hit whilst the scum get off nice and easy.So you go 360 deg The cops hide in the bushes with there new toys this in turn is what the public hate and in doing so lose track of all the good work being done by committed officers and a by product of this is when a bike is stolen and can't be found the first reaction is the cop in the bush.You can't win !!
We should do what the south African villages now do.Police the village themselves.Anyone caught thieving gets a good hiding from the whole village and then gets their property inspected by the whole village.If you have their stuff they take it back..Bring back the stocks and corporal punishment to adults.This would save 40k a year per inmate.
Never hidden in a bush myself or seen a colleague doing it. Bottom line really don't commit an offence and you won't get a fine! Before you ask I've been caught but took the punishment like a man!
i have only had good experiences with the police. We caught a couple of scumbags trying to steal both our bikes early last year. Now, i'm the one out of the two of us who gets mad when someone takes the piss, so Lewis phoned the police while i chased one back to van from our garden. I was 35 weeks pregnant, and this guy decided not to drive away but to act casual instead.. He turned his back for a fag, so i crept round the cars in the road until i got to the van and at the top of my voice shouted the number plate of van to lewis who was on the phone lol. As i ran back, now with the guy coming after me, giggling, i shouted a description of the guy, and he realised we were on the phone to the police. They drove off, but then came back round, intimidation we think, then they drove off, literally seconds later a couple of police vans, and about 5 cars went flying past on blues, and we thought some poor sod is getting beaten up, what a night! One of them swerved up next to us, he got out and shouted.. details, now! they're for you!! HAAAAHAHA The thieves went over dartford bridge, where the met joined forces with Essex police and an hour later we got a call to say they'd been arrested, they had bolt croppers in the back and other stuff used to steal bikes, and would be charged.. But, we all know the courts wouldn't have done a thing... the police though, they had every car and the helicopter looking for my autistic daughter when she ran away they went to visit another kids parents, on a day when all the neighbours would see, to chat to a kid who beat up my son, they let it go cold on purpose so it had the desired effect as this kid was known, parents went spastic apparently, the kid never bothered my son again. I'm sorry for anyone who has not had good experiences but i can't say the same. £ occasions to use them, i don't think thats coincidence, maybe met police here are more aggressive in the way they respond? i don't know..
