Long long NYTimes article about bike thefts in Vermont

[Demovictory9]

The Bike Thieves of Burlington, Vermont
A hunt for stolen goods has put citizens and business owners in the center of a debate about policing and a growing, sometimes violent, problem with crime.



The group tracked its overnight journey across Burlington on an app. It was a “wild ride,” Ms. Williams said. The bike traveled along a busy thoroughfare leading out of the city, through empty parking lots, into the woods and then back downtown, where it finally came to rest in City Hall Park.

“The bike didn’t sleep at all,” Ms. Williams said.

In the morning, she called the police, eager to share her GPS data and ideas about the thefts. According to Ms. Williams, an officer was willing to retrieve the bike from the park, but that was the extent of it.

As Ms. Williams tagged along, the officer walked up to a group of people standing next to the bike and asked whether it belonged to anyone.

“Nope,” one of the people said.

“Perfect,” Ms. Williams remembered the officer saying.

Ms. Williams got the bike back, but the officer said staffing cuts in the department made it difficult to pursue minor crimes like bike theft.

Ms. Williams said the officer “didn’t have time for any of it.”

_____

Some meth users are known to become fixated on stealing things — such as bikes.

Michael Hutchins, who moved to Florida last October to get away from the drug scene in Burlington, said some meth users he knew in Burlington stole bikes for transportation. “To get from Point A to Point B,” he said.

Others stole for the sheer thrill of taking something. Up for days without sleeping, some rode the bikes around with no real purpose. Mr. Davis said he had watched one bike change hands six times in the park.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/12/business/burlington-police-stolen-bikes.html

[Effete Snob]

1. It's good for the meth addicts to ride bikes

It really clears the head. We should import all the unused Chinese bike share bikes and give them out.

[Demovictory9]

2. Wow..what waste

[Effete Snob]

3. We are a bizarre species

People in one place stealing what people in another place throw away.

[Kennah]

4. This is why the space aliens won't visit us