RFID security chip - warning stickers or not?

[PaulSecteur]

Hi,

Some very nice people ( http://www.staffordshire.gov.uk/transport/Stafford/Cycling/The-Bike-Bus.aspx )came to my work today and were doing bike check ups, giving out cycle route maps and generally promoting cycling. Top work they guys and gals! Much appreciated.

They were also giving out RFID security chips, the sort that are encased in a black plug with splayed out ends that fit in your seat tube, there are these ones but not in the retail pack.

https://www.immobilise.com/view.php?stage=product&category=1&product=2

I have been thinking about the security tickers that come with it.

If I put the stickers on it may be a deterrent, but anyone that takes the bike will know to look for the chip and remove it.

Or if I don't put the sticker on there is no deterrent factor, so it is more likely to stay on the bike (also, the police may not scan it if they recover it as there isn't as sticker on to alert them)

Do the police run an RFID chip over every bike they recover? @CopperCyclist

So, sticker on or sticker off?

 

[Dusty Bin]

Fact: bike thieves do not give a stuff about warning stickers, for the same reason that time wasters are not deterred by ads which state "no timewasters"..

 

[Rob3rt]

The one that looks most like a mountain bike, else the one that looks most expensive!

If they are identical bikes, you could flip a coin.

 

[Dusty Bin]

[QUOTE 2758263, member: 45"].... But if the only difference between your bike and the one next to it is the sticker, which do you think they'll go for?[/quote]

They'll go for the one which looks like the most expensive. The sticker is irrelevant.

 

[Dusty Bin]

[QUOTE 2758272, member: 45"]Please read my post again.[/quote]

No - you should read mine again.

 

[Rob3rt]

On one hand, they may choose to avoid the sticker thinking it is telling the truth and try to avoid risk or having to bother removing any device, or they may call your bluff thinking that if you stuck a sticker on there you are actively trying to deter them and you don't actually have any sort of device in there, and even if you do, they know to check and remove it, so really you could flip a coin. They probably have equal chance of taking either.

 

[Dusty Bin]

[QUOTE 2758291, member: 45"]I understand yours. Your reply to mine shows that you didn't read it properly.[/quote]

A thief is not going to be deterred by a sticker, regardless of whether the sticker represents the presence of a genuine 'anti-theft' device, or not. It's an occupational hazard - nothing more. The bike will either end up in the canal, or being passed on through the hands of other minor criminals until it may eventually appear for sale in the local small ads, or gumtree, or similar. By which time, the original thief will have long been forgotten about. It's a non-issue.

So, put the sticker on - or don't put the sticker on. My feeling is that it won't make a bit of difference either way.

 

[classic33]

Not all forces have either the manpower to fully check every bike recovered. Many do not even have the scanners required to check for any electronic chip(s) that may be hidden in the frame.
I know that the property clerk covering my area has a staff of one part timer, who does two days a week. Himself.
Went to hand a bike in & got to see close on 200 bikes, being readied for sale by auction.
The bikes are on top of every other bit of recovered property!

Maybe thats why police forces posting pictures of recovered bikes seems more popular.

 

[fossyant]

The Manchester force handed these out some years back. Got my MTB done, but never bothered with the sticker.

 

[CopperCyclist]

My honest opinion? They will indeed just go for the one that looks the most expensive. If the bikes are identical, being a sticker, I doubt the sticker will make much difference - they won't notice it. The socket is less a deterrent and more a means of getting the bike back to the lawful owner.

If even suggest that with a sticker they will be unlikely to bother searching for and removing the tag - more likely they will just be looking for the quick, cheap, take and letting the new 'owner' worry about that.

If it was me, I probably wouldn't put it on, but aesthetic reasons only!

As to whether we routinely scan all bikes - probably not. I know I wouldn't be able to get a scanner if I recovered one, so it must likely friends on the force and their initiatives. Yours I presume would, otherwise the point of giving you the tags is wasted!

 

[mcshroom]

I had my commuter registered and stickered a few weeks back by Cumbria Constabulary. They just took the bike's frame number and put it on a register with my name and address, so I doubt they would be likely to scan a bike that they found.

 

[Ian193]

Got our bikes done with these last year the guy who put the chips in said they cannot be removed (only with Semtex) which would render the bike useless and yes we put the stickers on

 

[gbb]

No experience of how the stickers or system itself is percieved by the thieving fraternity, but here's something to relate to from a similar background.
Friends of ours, we've known them since their kids were nippers. As one in particular grew up, he became a prolific car thief in the 90s when it all went a bit AWOL with joyriding.
The wife was speaking to him one day (he was about 19 at the time (and if its any consolation, he's turned into a decent young man as he's grown up and become a proper adult) and asked if he was detered by a Crooklock or similar (we used to be paranoid he'd steal ours, he did so many other peoples ).
'Nah, wouldn't even touch a car that had one fitted, why would I bother ?, it just makes things more complicated...just move onto the next car that doesn't have anything fitted'

Nothing guarantees you will, or wont get your car, bike or anything else stolen, but simple logic dictates increasing security can help.