Finding abandoned (Stolen?) property?

[+uxorious]

About a year ago I was searching for a fairly new cache, and found a bicycle thrown over a bank and into the bushes. It had been there for a few months at least. I just pulled it up to the parking lot by the cache and left it.

 

Yesterday while searching a cache, I found another bike, apparently abandoned in the bushes across the road from the cache. This one looked like it hadn't been there very long, and the road it was by was not a busy place.

 

I didn't know if someone had put it there while they were going somewhere the bike wouldn't, or if it was left by someone who had taken it for a joyride and ditched it. I didn't see any trails or other places someone would go into anywhere near it.

 

While I have left my bicycle, (and my mobility scooter) while looking for a cache, I lock mine. I would hate to have someone take my bike in and report it as stolen if it wasn't. However, I would really like to get it back if it had been stolen and ditched.

 

Any suggestions? Or just leave it?

[+sbell111]

Call the police non-emergency number and let them know about it.

[+flask]

sometimes someone will steal a bike and then dump it.

[+Prime Suspect]

Call the police non-emergency number and let them know about it.

Yup. Chances are next to zero that it will get back to the owner. But in a lot of cities, there are groups that take the unclaimed bikes, get them back into working order, and get them to kids that can't afford bikes.

[+meralgia]

I was at a college with a run down bicycle that I hardly ever locked. One morning when I was going to grab my bike to get to class, I couldn't find it anywhere. It was a small campus, so I walked to class. When I came back that afternoon, I saw that some prankster had put it UP IN the tree!! It was easy to get down, and from then on out I've always locked my bike, no matter how crappy it was.

 

When I got to Minnesota, everyone talked about bicycle registration. It cost $10 for a sticker (I think I bought it at the local bike shop). It tracks your name and contact information. They told me to put the sticker on the frame underneath the seat (the tube that goes down toward the pedals). Look for a metal or plastic registration sticker, if you're able to, and relay that number to the police non-emergency people (like Sbell suggested).

Edited June 19, 2008 by meralgia

[+uxorious]

Chances are next to zero that it will get back to the owner.

 

It has been a lot of years, but I used to know someone who worked for a dept. in Seattle that handled things such as bikes that had been turned in. Most of the time the items did get auctioned off. However, there were a lot of people who were able to get their lost and/or stolen items back, by properly identifying them.

 

While I agree the chances may be next to zero getting it back. I wonder it that has more to do with people not even checking, to see if it may have been turned in.

 

Call the police non-emergency number and let them know about it.

 

If I can find the number for the area I'm caching in, this would be about all a person could do. I'm not sure how to tell them exactly where it is, unless I give them the GPS coordinates. I suppose they could find it with that.

[+sbell111]

If I can find the number for the area I'm caching in, this would be about all a person could do. I'm not sure how to tell them exactly where it is, unless I give them the GPS coordinates. I suppose they could find it with that.

I suppose they could, but you could also look on your GPS' map and give them the street info.

[+Moose Mob]

<snip>If I can find the number for the area I'm caching in, this would be about all a person could do. I'm not sure how to tell them exactly where it is, unless I give them the GPS coordinates. I suppose they could find it with that.

That number would probably be 311. This has been adopted by many areas as a generic non-emergency governemt services number.

 

Back on track. I once found a few stick of dynomite while placing a cache. The finders said they had a blast. Actually, I reported the dynomite to the local authorities and gave them the coordinates.

[+Team LaLonde]

We found a wallet once and turned it into the Michigan State Police. Never heard if the owner got it back though.

[+Confucius' Cat]

We found a wallet once and turned it into the Michigan State Police. Never heard if the owner got it back though.

in today's society, I would be VERY leery of picking up property and taking it to the police.

 

There is too much potential for misunderstanding, e.g. the owner sees you pick it up and thinks you stole it, a passerby sees you leaving with a purse and thinks you are a purse snatcher, you hand it to a cop and he arrests you for possession of stolen property (actually happened to my brother-in-law), or even the property has been deliberately "abandoned" by the police in a "sting" (entrapment) operation as has been done in NYC.

 

IMO, the days of "getting involved" ended when people, especially the cops, forgot how to tell a "good guy" from a "bad guy." Admittedly this is a tough call at times, but people used to lean toward the "good guy" side.

 

Best to leave it alone and ANONYMOUSLY call the police and tell them where it is unless you are well known to the local establishment. (of course this does not apply if you witness a SERIOUS crime- then by all means GET INVOLVED)

[4wheelin_fool]

About a year ago I was searching for a fairly new cache, and found a bicycle thrown over a bank and into the bushes. It had been there for a few months at least. I just pulled it up to the parking lot by the cache and left it.

 

Yesterday while searching a cache, I found another bike, apparently abandoned in the bushes across the road from the cache. This one looked like it hadn't been there very long, and the road it was by was not a busy place.

 

I didn't know if someone had put it there while they were going somewhere the bike wouldn't, or if it was left by someone who had taken it for a joyride and ditched it. I didn't see any trails or other places someone would go into anywhere near it.

 

While I have left my bicycle, (and my mobility scooter) while looking for a cache, I lock mine. I would hate to have someone take my bike in and report it as stolen if it wasn't. However, I would really like to get it back if it had been stolen and ditched.

 

Any suggestions? Or just leave it?

 

I would lock it to a nearby guardrail, and leave a note on it for the owner to contact the police department to break the lock. Next, hide a cache on the frame in a waterbottle and have the cachers keep an eye on it..

[+Wadcutter]

Simple answer to your question. If your bike or other property was stolen and someone else found it what would you want them to do?

[+Confucius' Cat]

Simple answer to your question. If your bike or other property was stolen and someone else found it what would you want them to do?

Don't answer a question with a question.

 

This "simple answer" ASSUMES that the bicycle was indeed stolen.

 

Anything that involves MOVING the bike or securing it in some way would definitely NOT be what I would want you to do if you found my bike that i simply left in the woods to go somewhere i couldn't take the bike.

 

The "simple answer" is to check back a little later and if it is still there, report it.

 

Bicycles are an interesting item. They are frequently stolen, frequently reported- mostly without reporting serial numbers, thus not positively identifiable- VERY often recovered, but SELDOM returned to their owners.

 

In even comparatively small cities, so many bicycles are stolen and recovered that the police make little if any attempt to identify the owners- ostensibly due to time issues.

 

I have "been there." I was told simply to come to the department every couple of weeks and have a look at the recovered bikes (there are MANY to choose from). Basically, if one of them "looks like yours," they will release it to you.

[+uxorious]

I would lock it to a nearby guardrail, and leave a note on it for the owner to contact the police department to break the lock.

 

I don't carry a lock in my Geocaching bag.

 

The first bike I found had been in the bushes long enough to have local vegetation growing through it. But this last one may have been there for a couple hours or a couple weeks, couldn't tell.

 

This cache is 40 or 50 miles away, it may be a few weeks before I can check on it.

 

Looked like a fairly nice mountain bike, (though I'm not a real judge of bikes). I will either check on it again when I'm back in the area or see if my brother will go by and see if it's still there.

[+Team LaLonde]

We found a wallet once and turned it into the Michigan State Police. Never heard if the owner got it back though.

in today's society, I would be VERY leery of picking up property and taking it to the police.

 

There is too much potential for misunderstanding, e.g. the owner sees you pick it up and thinks you stole it, a passerby sees you leaving with a purse and thinks you are a purse snatcher, you hand it to a cop and he arrests you for possession of stolen property (actually happened to my brother-in-law), or even the property has been deliberately "abandoned" by the police in a "sting" (entrapment) operation as has been done in NYC.

 

IMO, the days of "getting involved" ended when people, especially the cops, forgot how to tell a "good guy" from a "bad guy." Admittedly this is a tough call at times, but people used to lean toward the "good guy" side.

 

Best to leave it alone and ANONYMOUSLY call the police and tell them where it is unless you are well known to the local establishment. (of course this does not apply if you witness a SERIOUS crime- then by all means GET INVOLVED)

 

Oh, trust me, I AM well known at the police department! I'm also well known at two prisons and a county jail.

 

I make sales calls at all of them.

Edited June 29, 2008 by Team LaLonde

[+TeamWhiteWolf]

lol, you didn't go to UW-Parkside by any chance? I took my buddies bike and hung it from some steam pipes on our campus with duct tape. When he walked into the room he looked all over then finally looked up, and found it, lol. He was the butt of many jokes on our campus, great guy too. I know your not him just thought I would add that story though.

[+Lucky Strike]

About a year after Katrina devasted New Orleans, we found a fanny pack with wallet while caching in Kenner, LA. Inside the wallet were drivers license, welfare card, and other IDs. Figuring that this was probably a heist and recognizing that welfare recipient IDs were involved, we figured that the best thing to do was to try to return the pack to the owner. We went to the nearest store where we bought packaging and then to a local Post Office. Since this was a Saturday, we used the postal stamp vending machine for stamps to the ID address. Inserted the necessary $5.00 for the stamps. !!The machine spit out $10.00 worth of stamps.!! We stamped the package and deposited in out-going mail and left with $7.50 in stamps. Was this an omen?? Maybe it was in the stars?? or more probably concidence. At least we felt better.

[+bflentje]

In my caching experiences, I've run across many things that were obviously stolen and dumped. I am guessing that stolen bikes get dumped so they cool off for a while and then get forgotten about. Just this last year I've run into three bikes, a kick ball, and a razer scooter. I left the bikes but grabbed the ball.. the scooter needed parts so left it.

[+CrippledBlindSquirrel]

About a year after Katrina devasted New Orleans, we found a fanny pack with wallet while caching in Kenner, LA. Inside the wallet were drivers license, welfare card, and other IDs. Figuring that this was probably a heist and recognizing that welfare recipient IDs were involved, we figured that the best thing to do was to try to return the pack to the owner. We went to the nearest store where we bought packaging and then to a local Post Office. Since this was a Saturday, we used the postal stamp vending machine for stamps to the ID address. Inserted the necessary $5.00 for the stamps. !!The machine spit out $10.00 worth of stamps.!! We stamped the package and deposited in out-going mail and left with $7.50 in stamps. Was this an omen?? Maybe it was in the stars?? or more probably concidence. At least we felt better.

 

Oh....A Federal Crime...Theft from the Post Office

 

Boy, you in a heap of trouble now!

[NoBetterName]

About a year after Katrina devasted New Orleans, we found a fanny pack with wallet while caching in Kenner, LA. Inside the wallet were drivers license, welfare card, and other IDs. Figuring that this was probably a heist and recognizing that welfare recipient IDs were involved, we figured that the best thing to do was to try to return the pack to the owner. We went to the nearest store where we bought packaging and then to a local Post Office. Since this was a Saturday, we used the postal stamp vending machine for stamps to the ID address. Inserted the necessary $5.00 for the stamps. !!The machine spit out $10.00 worth of stamps.!! We stamped the package and deposited in out-going mail and left with $7.50 in stamps. Was this an omen?? Maybe it was in the stars?? or more probably concidence. At least we felt better.

 

Oh....A Federal Crime...Theft from the Post Office

 

Boy, you in a heap of trouble now!

 

Just think what would happen if a cop came by and seen you trying to stuff stamps back in a machine.