> Cops really don’t give a shit about theft unless it’s from a business.
My only experience with police and bike theft is the opposite; they police were helpful and recovered my bike. When I first called them they even suggested that I make initial contact with the thief and they’d be there to support the sting, which surprised me a lot! I found the bike a couple of weeks after it was stolen when the thief posted it for sale online, and when I called the police they let me know that the phone number was associated with a “known operator”. I didn’t end up making direct contact with the thief, an undercover officer took care of it. Several officers joined, and they were all super happy to have helped. It was overall a positive and satisfying experience.
This may be very locale-dependent, I’m in the western U.S., not Europe.
I'm also in the western, US (the PNW) and my bike was stolen a couple of years back. It had a sticker and a registration number from my apartment building, which they called and left their phone number saying they found the bike abandoned and want to return it.
I called the number, and they told me to meet up somewhere in a relatively rough neighborhood. I told them I would love to meet up in front of a police precinct which they turned down, saying they don't have a car and can't get there (told them they can ride the bike to the precinct, and I can arrange an Uber to drive them back but unsurprisingly they said no).
I called the Seattle PD and told them everything, asked if they can help me by sending someone at the meeting site. They pretty much burst out laughing, told me not to go as I will likely get robbed or worse, forget about the bike and move on with my life. (I did file a report for the stolen bike though).
I ended up getting some money from my renter's insurance. The bike was worth slightly over $1000 when it was new (was stolen after about a year). I keep my bikes indoors now.
Isn't that incredible. It's almost "We can't go with you to that place and investigate a crime because a crime might happen!"
I'm not from the US and I've only ever had positive interactions with police, but cases like this which would be low effort for them and have a useful impact on petty crime in their region, seem very frustrating.
That would never happen in my area in the US. The cops would probably tell you not to go but they’d be interested in every bit of info you had. If it wasn’t in their jurisdiction they’d help me find the right department.
If this is Seattle, I have heard dozens of people tell me about their stolen bikes. And every single one has said the cops basically laughed at them and told them to forget about it.
It’s no different here where I live in Australia, for small property crimes anyway. They’ll file a report at least, but nothing will happen even if you know exactly who did it and have video proof.
My only experience with police and bike theft is the opposite; they police were helpful and recovered my bike. When I first called them they even suggested that I make initial contact with the thief and they’d be there to support the sting, which surprised me a lot! I found the bike a couple of weeks after it was stolen when the thief posted it for sale online, and when I called the police they let me know that the phone number was associated with a “known operator”. I didn’t end up making direct contact with the thief, an undercover officer took care of it. Several officers joined, and they were all super happy to have helped. It was overall a positive and satisfying experience.
This may be very locale-dependent, I’m in the western U.S., not Europe.