It doesn’t seem like 3 years ago but many will remember that a Bristol Police Officer joined us here with info on his role to target Bristol thefts at the time:

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/cycle-theft-in-bristol

I’ve been prompted to come back to this as the thefts sadly continue, at least one criminal gang is still very active and a team mate lost bikes (value almost £8,000!)from his garage in Keynsham last weekend.

He was concerned that the police “weren’t taking it that seriously” despite the value and him clearly being targetted somehow.

I tried to get in touch with PC Frank Simonds this afternoon but sadly he’s moved jobs and is now on long-term sick. HQ did try to find out if someone else had taken on his role but sadly they haven’t 🙁 “Budgets cut” “numbers reduced” etc. was the response..

Reason for posting then: has anyone experienced a recent Bristol area theft? Did/are the police ‘taking it seriously’? Did local neighbourhood officers feed details up to someone else in HQ? If so did they contact you? Have you got a name at all??

Just bumping for the weekend 😉 I ought to alert Mr Agreeable to this as well.

You rang? 😉

Last time I spoke to the police about this, the focus was very much on catching the crims, Frank was more active in the field of crime prevention, via getting people to lock their bikes properly, and they did achieve a reduction in bike theft while he was in post, although my gut feeling is that this was mainly the lower-end stuff. The targeted theft of high-end bikes is certainly on their radar, but I suspect they’ll be tackling it through covert methods that they don’t want to shout about in a public forum. A few people have noticed a plain clothes police presence at AshtonCourt and North Road.

I’m also noticing that the thieves seen to be extending their range into South Gloucs – in recent months there have been high-end thefts from Wick and Fishponds and your man in Keynsham certainly fits this pattern.

A quick note on Police in Bristol on bike theft – Not allowed to mention any names, but I’d like to say a massive thanks to the guys who spent their time hunting down the scumbags that stole my bike last August.

After finding it advertised for sale on the internet months after it was stolen, I contacted Bristol police who did a brilliant job in eventually recovering the bike but also keeping me informed the whole time. It’s good to know that all is not lost when someone decides to pinch your pride and joy… Thanks guys on the bike theft team at Bristol Police, much appreciated!

Maffer76 – that’s great news.

Alas, my view of the response from Avon and Somerset Police is not so positive. My bike was stolen in Nov 2011. Just over 2 months ago I spotted parts of it for sale on two auction sites. I did a bit of amateur Internet sleuthing and established the sellers actual location, name and address. I phoned AandS to report my find. I was telephoned the next day to be told that ” the member of staff who deals with Internet stuff isn’t in until next Tuesday” which was 5 days later. I expressed my dissatisfaction with this and it was suggested that I “phone the police force local to the seller to see what they can do”.

👿

Anyhow, what followed for the next few WEEKS was me telephoning both forces repeatedly to get the case details transferred from AandS to the local force. Obviously, any hope of recovering my property was long gone. It took another two weeks for the local police to turn up at the sellers house.

Basically, I wasted my time. I should have accepted a good friend’s offer to get my stuff back for me (he lives in the same county as the seller). However, I wanted to stay on the right side of the law.

More fool me.