Advice needed on possible stolen bike recovery

[kajero]

Can anyone give me any suggestions regarding bike recovery? My SO's was stolen as well. His is an e-assist bike and uses a battery; the bike is not much good without it. The thieves did not take the battery which was recharging on a shelf right next to the bike. The battery retails for around $900. Yesterday, I was outside on the driveway visiting with my brother and sister-in-law. The garage door was open. A small white open bed vehicle, one that would be great for dumping bikes into quickly, slowed down, and passed our house twice. I just got this funny feeling that they were the thieves and had come back to look for the battery. I have been trying my best to figure out what to do. I think I will list it on Craig's list for sale, but use a different city. Listing where they stole the bikes from was will tip them off. If they should come and get it and it is the white truck, I will be able to get the license plate. Otherwise, I wonder if I could work with the police and have them pick up the *basta##rds* for possession of stolen goods. They obviously won't have a receipt.

[NbyNW]

Have you filed a police report for the stolen bikes? You could mention the battery issue to the officer who takes your report, see if they have any ideas.

[Irulan]

I've come to the conclusion that cops are almost totally worthless for bike theft. It's so rampant in most communities that they appear to really not give a s**t. The CL thing might work.... However, are you prepared to run them down and prove they have your stolen bike?

If you do run an ad, and suspected thieves do call, then and only you might get some police support. You'd have to ask the suspect to bring the bike, and them somehow be able to hold onto it while either the perp is questioned, a cop inspected it for the serial number, or perp runs away knowing he's caught.

I'm basing all this on a similar situation we had around here. A friend's whitewater raft and trailer was stolen out of his driveway. More friends were watching CL regionally, and sure enough it it turned up on CL six months later. Friend B went over to act like a pretend buyer, and was able to identify it (it was a special edition with some unusual markings). Then and only then the sheriff got involved and came with Friend B when he went back to "purchase" it. They were pretty lucky, though.

[Triskeliongirl]

Go ahead and file a police report, and explain the battery situation to the officer. You may be surprised. Once I had debit card stolen (among other items), and it turned out the thief was stupid enough to use it to place a deposit on an order he was going to return to pick up. So the police arranged a 'sting' and caught him when he went to pick up the order.

[OakLeaf]

You probably have to file a police report if you want your insurance to cover it, anyhow.

I'm so sorry that happened to you. Some people are a-holes...

[NbyNW]

The police might get involved if you a) file a report and b) have pretty good evidence that someone has your bike. This actually happened for a friend of mine. She found her stolen (custom) bike listed for sale on CL several states away, turned out it was at some university campus. She called the local officer with whom she had filed her report, they got on the phone with the police where her bike was, and the next week her bike was delivered back to her.

[kajero]

I have looking through Craig's list, but there are so many different states and cities to search through. I wish Craig's List had a universal search box. I think it would really deter bike thieves or at least cut down on their selling them.

[Skippyak]

http://www.adhuntr.com/
http://www.pcworld.com/article/162030/craigslist_tips.html?page=3
ETC ETC

[Irulan]

Use google. item-craiglist in the google search bar. It should bring up all of that particular item out there.