Some thieving pikey has been into my locked garage through the back gate and half inched my bike - there has been a spree of car break ins in the middle of the night and they were getting closer.

I feel violated and my wife feels unsafe inside the house now

i am hopping mad, fortunately my daughters lovely pink bike wasn't taken she would have been heartbroken.

Bummer.

Did the Police come round, or were they not interested?

Its probably down to just one person who is on a drug spree. Car/garage break ins are common. When i used to work street enforcement in north burnaby, one arrest would often lead to as much as a 90 percent decline in property crime. Garages are an easy mark - since they are generally not as secure as residences. It easy to pawn tools and as in your case a bike.

While it may feel like hood as gone to the dogs, its probably down to just one person. I know it is not a pleasant experience but your wife is perfectly safe. Property rats are not going to murder you in the middle of the night.

Its not a matter of not being interested - its the harsh reality of too much work and not enough people to do the job. That being said, i would contact the local community police office and try and speak with a community officer (after making a formal complaint to the main office)

I know you are right, its just that we all get the general impression that there always seems to be plenty of manpower for those areas of crime that bring in the most revenue (motoring crimes), and never enough for these crimes though "petty" that have a large impact on a persons feelings of safety.

When New York City police were concentrated on Street crime they found that other major crimes dropped also, as many of the "perps" were the same.

Only found out late last night, will contact the community guy this am. Trouble is apart from giving details of bike. i havent got anything else to tell them.

There have been a run of similar events and I guess its probably the same guy (or gal) I'll wander to the local pawn shop see if my bikes there - it will be the only one there with a halfords speedo!

sorry to hear of your trouble, hope they get him/her/them. I felt the same when our house was burgled in the UK it frightened me for a while then things settle, I hope she's feeling safer soon
Terese

The RCMP always claim they have no man power but every couple of weeks one will see 7 or 8 officers doing a speed trap or seat belt check.

To me that is a total waste of resources.

So the police came around this afternoon, and dutifully took all the details and offered mild hope that they may come across my bike, they even tried to cheer us up by telling us about the man they had spotted on cctv stealing a bike and then further down the road deciding to steal a car and dumping the bike!

My wife pointed out that a garage on the other side of the street had been done and a bike taken as well but not reported and the officer thought the 2 crimes could be connected you can tell he was a detective

My wife was engrossed in a real estate paper when I returned from work!

You'd better get quotes in from the movers then!

Back in the UK, a guy across the road was a druggie. He knocked on the door one night and asked if he could come in and look around to see what we had worth nicking. He said it would save him the trouble of breaking in if we had nothing he'd want, and the hassle of dealing with repairs if he did break in.

I suggested that if I did get broken into, I'd assume it was him, and that I'd be around to visit him sometime in the night. I even showed him the baseball bat beside the door. I never did get broken into.

Brilliant.
For the record though I'm with dboy (evening sir). The pr1*k who stole your bike is unlikely to hurt anyone in the house... especially after you electrify the garage entrance.

Its true that resources are poured into auto incidents, but what most don't realize is that auto related matters cause more death, injury and civil costs that any other area.

ICBC often allocate special funding that is available in the form of overtime with the view of targeting certain traffic related ares. Such as the drink driving counter attack, seat belts or speed enforcement. The money does not come out of the usual coffers nor does it draw on established manpower levels.

And as a major crime detective working an average 60 - 70 hour week, take it from me in no uncertain terms that we don't have enough guys to do the job. I've so far had two full weekends off this year.

I realize thats most(all?) forces are under-funded and over-worked, and don't for a second doubt that I appreciate the work you do, and the difficulties you face everyday.

When we are the victim of a crime we expect you to turn out in force and devote hours to our little problem, but when we are speeding we don't want to see you at all. Sorry about that.....

I have heard that mentioned but in the Lower Mainland there is a total overreaction to any sort of prang, I have seen 2-3 cop cars, fire trucks etc etc for a minor rear ender, what gets my goat that there is absolutely no sense of urgency to deal with the resulting road chaos, and Canadians seem to love rubber necking.

I understand the urgency of the medical situation, but having lived in New York, the cops there deal with the incident and concentrate on getting traffic moving.
The resources spent on seat belt checks and HOV lane infringements are more of a hazard-hinderance in rush hour as everyone slows down to have a peak or cause they think there is a crash.

Really because of the unique challenges facing drivers in the Lower Mainland it is about time your lot concentrated on getting traffic moving