I wouldn’t want to be there when they catch a bike thief that’s armed, or one that doesn’t back down from a physical altercation.

You are giving bike thieves too much credit. By the time they get comfortable with weapons and fighting they generally move on to something other than bikes. I’ve caught 4 people trying to steal my bikes in my life and all 4 of them ran away as fast as they could as soon as they were caught, most people I know have similar experiences.

I agree with Alex’s eloquent posts on vigilante fantasies with bike thieves here:

http://www.westsidebikeside.com/stupid-bike-thefts-lead-to-stupid-fantasies/
http://www.westsidebikeside.com/my-point-exactly/

This is very scary to me. We live in a civilized society. You don’t take the law into your own hand, because what if everyone did that? When does it stop?

I’m not saying it’s right that people are stealing, it’s not, but this is not right.

At least to me.

And these kids look underage. Is this even legal? This is something that’s going to be online forever. Kids aren’t tried as adults for a reason, because what if people change their ways. If you brand someone thief then what’s the point of straightening up your life?

Browne

It might be a little bit difficult to punish an person that is not over 18. If you tell them to strip you might be charged with child molestation. I say take off their shoes and throw them on a roof. Most kids are not used to walking home barefooted.

Since the authorities have been apparently ineffective in stopping the rampant bike theft problem, it’s only to be expected that people will take matters into their own hands. A lot of these kids would probably look at taking a beating as a sign of manhood – this is a step forward in terms of punishment and hopefully in terms of effectiveness.

While I don’t generally advocate vigilante justice, when you steal a messenger’s bike or render it inoperable, you are interfering with that person’s livelihood.

Would people be so supportive of something like this if someone who caught someone breaking into his car–say, a SUV like a Hummer–did the same thing and gloated about it on the internet? I sure hope everyone else would follow the same logic and be just as okay with that as someone with a bike doing it.

I think this is great. These kids will learn consequences. Our government doesn’t even prosecute property crimes anymore so we have to do something. Besides, really, what are police and laws and such but an ineffective form of vigilantism.

And apparently they take away the thieves’ Southern accents too. Wow, that is harsh.

My first thought too, Matt. But to those kookee krazee kids these days “drawls” is apparently fresh slang for underwear — a term that the vigilantes seem to have confused with outerwear, since the suspects’ “drawls” is all that didn’t get dropped.

i still think we should have kicked some ass. we let them off to easy. we just could not stop laughing to do anythin else to them. we did call parents though and tried to explain to them what happened. this happened two days in a row with some other kids. these kids were from cathedral high school hopefully they’ll let there friends know whats up when they come steal from us messengers. DTLA

[...] of their new Bike Parking Community Resource Guide, available as a free download. Steal a bike, lose your pants. Bob Mionske writes that cyclists continue to pay the price for cell drunk drivers. Mandatory [...]