[dahart]

Last year I had a very similar story, though in my case the police were not only helpful, at first they encouraged me to make first contact and initiate the sting! This was primarily due to them being short staffed the night I found my bike listed online, but I was pretty sure the police were going to advise that I stay clear of the thief, which is what most of my clear-headed friends said.

Due to a storm I stalled a little, and it was enough that the police went and did the sting without me. They called me to come get it where it went down, and there was a whole team there looking very proud. They said less than 1% of cases bikes get recovered because nobody registers their bikes, and not many people call them. There’s a whole warehouse full of unclaimed bikes.

The thief was a serial offender, but also homeless which I feel bad about. He had to go to court and I got several letters requesting I share my story of the financial damage the theft caused me, but since I got the bike back there wasn’t any to speak of.