"Back to work today, forgot my pass so locked bike outside Cannon Street station.

[markholtom@mastodonapp.uk]

"Back to work today, forgot my pass so locked bike outside Cannon Street station. Left work at 6pm to find just the cut lock and no bike, resigned to never seeing my trusty stead again asked the station if they have cameras. A guy appeared waving at me, asked me to put the code into my cut lock. He replied ‘I have your bike’ with a smile I will never forget!! His name is Abdul Muneeb and he works for South Eastern Railways, he was on a break and saw a guy bolt cut the lock and challenged him to give it back, he then took it inside and waited 4 hours after his shift finished to personally make sure I got my bike back. The world needs more Abdul’s, he is a legend of a man and a credit to his employer."
Story Credit: Steve Farmer

[futurebird@sauropods.win]

@MarkHoltom

I'm glad you got your bike back. But also if it's not a U lock it's not doing anything for a bike.

I used two U locks and my bike is old and frankly worth less than the locks.

[mjr@masto.bike]

@futurebird @MarkHoltom is that victim-blaming?

[futurebird@sauropods.win]

@mjr @MarkHoltom

Yes.

I've thought about doing a youTube channel where I'd walk around and make videos about how badly locked up some bikes are. "Rate My Lock Job"

Mark really lucked out to have Mr.Muneeb looking out for him.

[mjr@masto.bike]

@futurebird @MarkHoltom there's enough such vids and I suspect it inspires more thieves to go look than lockers to upgrade. Most locks are either casual deterrents or the minimum for insurance. On one level, I know what you mean because I don't lock in town with only a cable, but you ought to be and it seems like police are AWOL on this.

[futurebird@sauropods.win]

@mjr @MarkHoltom

NYPD laughs in the face of people who have their bike stolen. I've always said if they wanted to be better liked all they'd need to do is a few stings every year to catch prolific bike thieves but they can't be bothered and so those of us who bike live in the wild wild west.

[david_chisnall@infosec.exchange]

@futurebird @MarkHoltom

I had a friend lose a key for a lock like that one, and we found that squeezing the barrel with some garden sheers popped it open. My bike came with a lock built into the back that has a slot for a chain (close it and it immobilises the back wheel). I really like that design and still have one, but the model it came with has the world’s worst lock: you can open it with a key blank.

And no lock works against the attack that a gang did here 10-15 years ago: they came with a forklift and a low loader and pulled up the metal hoops that you attach the bike to. In five minutes, they were able to take an entire bike park. They presumably cut off the locks later.

This is the main reason I haven’t bought an e-bike. My bike looks old and cheap. My main defence against theft is to always park near a more expensive-looking bike.

[futurebird@sauropods.win]

@david_chisnall @MarkHoltom

The whole bike thing kind of radicalized me because, coming from Ohio when I first moved to NYC and had the brand new 300 bike I bought on my very tight budget stolen (I used a lock like the one in the photo) I went to the police expecting they would be helpful and interested in the CRIME. They were so rude and mean about it I became totally self reliant. I do not need bike theft police. I am my own sheriff.

*cue western music*

[hatter@metasocial.com]

@futurebird @MarkHoltom It's not Mark's bike. Story is 5 years old, https://metro.co.uk/2020/07/02/rail-worker-saved-mans-bike-thief-waited-hours-shift-return-12935219/ Not sure why it's had a recent resurgence in popularity

[notoriousiptg@fediscience.org]

@futurebird @mjr @MarkHoltom while it's not surprising, I'm still a wee surprised the NYC cops don't prioritize it at all. My understanding is that bike theft often helps fund a lot of other (much more headline grabbing) criminal activity. I can't find any of the articles that I recall having read on it, but I know in the Bay Area that's the case, and that there are major police ops on stolen bikes.

[patsplat@open-ground.org]

@futurebird @mjr @MarkHoltom

A colleague shared this story a while back. He lost the key to his bike. He got a cordless drill and started drilling out the cylinder of a very solid bike lock. While doing so, the police walked past and said nothing. His thought was - what is the point of this lock, if the police won’t even stop to ask what’s going on?

I’m glad a fellow human helped out in the situation up thread.

[futurebird@sauropods.win]

@notoriousiptg @mjr @MarkHoltom

This might sound absurdly petty, but for a variety of reasons NYPD dislikes people who ride bikes. They constantly have these absurd little traffic stops for bikes near the bridges that come in to Manhattan from the Bronx and Brooklyn and hold up everyone exiting the bridge looking for someone who ran a red light. Or they give everyone tickets even if you didn’t run a red light.

[fuzztech@infosec.exchange]

@futurebird @notoriousiptg @mjr @MarkHoltom Having worked there I can say that often those stops come after cyclists are killed - let’s be real here: mashed into paste - by buses and trucks and cars. There have been many campaigns to save cyclists that start with enforcement. I can understand as a cyclist myself why we think other priorities (like for example making NYMTA bus drivers actually stop at lights) would seem higher but I never once heard the sentiment that NYPD doesn’t like cyclists. It’s not all a plot.

[futurebird@sauropods.win]

@fuzztech @notoriousiptg @mjr @MarkHoltom

IDK when I was a messenger I saw another delivery rider get hit by a car. It was bad. Two of us chased the car and got their plates. We were both eyewitnesses to this kid getting maimed and we hung around to talk to the police. They didn’t even write down the plate number I gave them. I gave the number to the kid as the put him in the ambulance. Tried another cop who said “this isn’t a crime”

[fuzztech@infosec.exchange]

@futurebird @notoriousiptg @mjr @MarkHoltom Yeah there are assholes in every profession. No accounting for incompetence. But I never heard anything even hinting at what you were fearing was unspoken or spoken policy. I likely would’ve. And I did hear lots about trying to reduce cyclist and pedestrian deaths. So {shrug}

[futurebird@sauropods.win]

@fuzztech @notoriousiptg @mjr @MarkHoltom

I grew up in a suburb and when I first moved to NYC I found the general ire for NYPD perplexing. The most charitable reading is that they still are acting as if the city hasn’t changed since the 70s — NYPD act as if they are an underfunded city service tasked with policing an impossibly violent and chaotic city.