Okay — because the sun came out today, I was kind of sad that my bike was stolen.
But here’s the thing: I’m far more curious about where my bike ended up than unhappy about it being gone. In Montreal, bike theft isn’t really perceived as a crime. It’s an occupational hazard. If you cycle regularly, eventually your bike disappears (unless you carry it into your office/apartment every day).
Which means that a whole bunch of people are profiting from bike theft with impunity. Because most people, even the police, just shrug and say, “Bike’s gone, oh well. Stop being a baby.”
So where is my bike?
Was it:
a) Taken by a junkie and re-sold ten minutes later in Carré St-Louis?
b) Nicked by professionals, thrown onto the back of a truck and driven to some kind of chop shop in the ‘burbs?
c) Stolen by kids on a lark. Because they can.
Nobody knows. But it seems to me that this kind of thing would be easy to trace. Especially the chop shop scenario. Just leave a bunch of inexpensive bikes badly locked up around the Plateau. Put a tiny tracking device inside the tire or under the seat. And wait.
My bet: 60 percent of the stolen bikes on the plateau will end up in the same three or four locations.
So bust them. Maybe people won’t ever recover their bikes, but a whole lot of cyclists will feel better in the knowledge that somebody is looking out for them.