British police are using poorly-locked or even unlocked “bait-bikes” to catch thieves. The bikes are loaded with hidden GPS tracking devices so the cops can simply wait for the stolen ride to end up at its final destination, letting them bust Mr. Big instead of just constantly pruning the teen-gangs and junkies that do the actual stealing.
According to test schemes, it works. After Cambridge police used bait-bikes, theft at a local railway station fell by 45%, reports the Guardian. The same article tells us that even in London, theft fell by 30%.
Bike theft is driven by the market. Recently I spoke to a bike polo player from Amsterdam, and he told me that people will buy two bikes for around €10 each if they lose their own bike, just so they have a spare. He knew that this was fueling the problem, but the alternative is to buy a brand new bike and have that stolen instead.
To me, the bait-bikes sound like a great idea. Not only do they allow the cops to catch the organized gangs behind the crimes, they sow paranoia amongst the foot-soldiers, making all bikes a less attractive target.
Inevitably, though, there is opposition. Some cite “entrapment” (not illegal in the UK, it seems), and others complain of false positives, as in the case of a drunken student who rode an unlocked bike home and then got a visit from the police (he was let off). These are technical issues, which will vary from country to country. I’m more interested in what you think. I know we have a lot of cyclists reading Gadget Lab, so let us know your opinions in the comments. Is it morally wrong to use bait-bikes? Or is anything acceptable if it stops people from stealing our rides?
Sure, we’ll never reach a lock-free utopia where we can just leave our bikes out in the street overnight, propped naked against a wall (unless we move to Canada), but it would be nice not to have to wrap the bike in twice its weight in chains and hardened-steel shackles just to stop off for a six-pack.
Bait bikes: the way to beat theft gangs or entrapment? [Guardian]
Photo: gen gibson/Flickr
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