Police stopping cyclists in Preston

[Cubist]

To what purpose?
What questions?
Why would they want to confiscate bikes?

They have stated quite clearly that they want to prevent and detect thefts. Interrogating innocent people and confiscating their bicycles as a hidden agenda is pretty strange behaviour.

Why would they want to do that?

 

[Cubist]

haven't they got anything better to do?

 

[Little yellow Brompton]

To what purpose?
What questions?
Why would they want to confiscate bikes?

They have stated quite clearly that they want to prevent and detect thefts. Interrogating innocent people and confiscating their bicycles as a hidden agenda is pretty strange behaviour.

Why would they want to do that?

I'm glad you are now starting to question.

 

[GFamily]

Hmmm - how to you 'prove' ownership of a bike, unless you've bought it from a bike shop and have kept the receipt. I built my bike up from bits, and would be hard pushed to find any documentary evidence now.

I've got a cable combination lock on mine, so I can prove that the lock is mine!

 

[Crankarm]

To what purpose?
What questions?
Why would they want to confiscate bikes?

They have stated quite clearly that they want to prevent and detect thefts. Interrogating innocent people and confiscating their bicycles as a hidden agenda is pretty strange behaviour.

Why would they want to do that?

So if you are stopped by plod on your bike, but because you are unable to establish to the satisfaction of the cop that your bike is yours, he seizes it and takes it away from you. Surely this is theft of your property? There appears to be a fine line between a copper thinking he or she is acting within the law and acting outside it thus becoming a villian themselves. Sometimes it's hard to tell the difference between cops and robbers. And if you still couldn't satisfy the plods your bike was yours then they would keep it and auction it off to raise much needed cash. I can see where this initiative is going .............

Andy Hayman top cop : "I can't believe you just asked me that."

Of course you could just ride off as it is unlikely any cop would actually catch you as most are pretty lardy and unfit due to all the pies and greasey fry ups they eat. And if it became ugly I am sure a truncheon would be no match for a D-lock .......

I would hope the plods would have a list of bikes with frame numbers and other pertinent features that had been reported stolen in the area so if your bike did not match these then they would clearly be acting unlawfully by removing your bike from your possession.

I think the plods using bait or dummy bikes is a far better method of catching bike thieves in areas where bike theft is a problem rather than antagonising the law abiding majority of cyclists.

 

[Cubist]

It is very clear Crankers that you and LYB have a particularly jaded view of the police. I have already said I am genuinely sorry, but I really don't know any better how to reassure you that:

THE POLICE ARE NOT INTERESTED IN CONFISCATING YOUR BIKE.

 

[Cubist]

I'm glad you are now starting to question.

Indeed. My question was to you. You have not answered it, merely engaged in what appears to be paranoid rhetoric

I'll make it clear

"Why do you think the police want to confiscate your bike?"

 

[Chris-H]

Those that hark on about their rights being violated etc for being randomley stopped and questioned need to remember one thing,while in the 40's that kind of behaviour by the police would've been frowned upon by most of the population due to a low crime rate these days with the amount of rising crime in all areas the police have a much harder task at tackling it.Bicycles are also used to commit crime,especially in inner cities where they make a much better scource of getaway vehicle from muggings.Crime has increased no end,terrorism,burgularys,robberys etc etc how do the police know your innocent until they've spoken to you?Its a sad situatuation our country finds itself in but its a fact,crime is at an all time high and affects EVERYONE,to the point of affecting you in the form of being asked a few questions while your out on your bike.Dont blame the police.....blame the theiving,murdering,bombing scum that has brought this country down so much.

 

[Peter88]

Greater Manchester Police have also been running this operation for the last month or so. I posted a couple of weeks ago that a friend had 5 bikes stolen, he now has 2 of those bikes back because GMP recovered them using this tactic.

 

[Norm]

To the policemen on here and those organising these initiatives, thanks!

Most cyclists, I'm sure, will take more note of their own thoughts and experiences, and from posts like Peter88's above, than the ramblings of the paranoid few.

 

[MontyVeda]

what I've learnt from this thread is that some people choose to live in a police state whilst the rest of us happily don't.

 

[CopperCyclist]

I think the plods using bait or dummy bikes is a far better method of catching bike thieves in areas where bike theft is a problem rather than antagonising the law abiding majority of cyclists.

I'm coming away from the wall quickly to make a point regarding this, I'm hoping I don't lose my space there as its filling in fast.

Dummy 'bait' bikes sounds a great idea doesn't it. Someone else mentioned it earlier too, with a sensible suggestion of a GPS tracker. Problem is, this would count as a covert operation. We have to take into account the 'human rights' of gaining personal information of the thief by sneakily watching him in this way, and therefore it's not an operation you can just set up. It would require applications and authorisations by a Superintendant, or possibly even a Chief Constable depending on exactly what tech you were going to use. The application is lengthy and difficult to complete. You'd have to be able to show that the officer running the observation was specially trained, which few of us are.

I'll leave you all to form your own conclusions on why we are in the situation where a relatively simple and effective operation like a bait bike is so difficult to set up.

Now I'm going back to banging my head against that wall - I've ordered pies and a greasy fry up to be delivered there and don't want to miss it.

 

[Little yellow Brompton]

Those that hark on about their rights being violated etc for being randomley stopped and questioned need to remember one thing,while in the 40's that kind of behaviour by the police would've been frowned upon by most of the population due to a low crime rate these days with the amount of rising crime in all areas the police have a much harder task at tackling it.Bicycles are also used to commit crime,especially in inner cities where they make a much better scource of getaway vehicle from muggings.Crime has increased no end,terrorism,burgularys,robberys etc etc how do the police know your innocent until they've spoken to you?Its a sad situatuation our country finds itself in but its a fact,crime is at an all time high and affects EVERYONE,to the point of affecting you in the form of being asked a few questions while your out on your bike.Dont blame the police.....blame the theiving,murdering,bombing scum that has brought this country down so much.

I think you might be reading the Daily Wail to often!

"BCS interviews showed that the risk of being a victim of crime in the year ending September 2010
was 21.4 per cent. This level of risk of being a victim of crime remains at a 30-year low."


Home Office Statistical Bulletin 02/11 Crime in England and Wales: Quarterly Update to September 2010

 

[Little yellow Brompton]

Indeed. My question was to you. You have not answered it, merely engaged in what appears to be paranoid rhetoric

I'll make it clear

"Why do you think the police want to confiscate your bike?"

They don't, they just need to threat of doing so to force questions to be answered.

 

[MontyVeda]

They don't, they just need to threat of doing so to force questions to be answered.

very silly... back to the wall for me.