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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

DS's bike stolen from school - AIBU to involve the police?

78 replies

PorkyPandora · 30/03/2017 18:06

DS's mountain bike disappeared from secondary school on Tuesday. There is a bike shed which is locked but it's not big enough so many pupils leave their bikes against the railings inside the school grounds.

DS did not secure it with his bike chain which was attached to his bike (he has learned his lesson now). TBF a lot of the other bikes were not tied up either when I looked for his bike the day after as the kids assume they are safe in school grounds.

I emailed the school first thing the next morning, with a picture of the bike. DS went to his Year Head who had received the email but said there was no CCTV in the area and as he hadn't secured it there was nothing they could do.

At lunchtime, DH spoke to the office who said the caretaker had reviewed the CCTV (so there was some) and saw a child in uniform take the bike and he would be further reviewing the CCTV to identify the child and leave it with the Head teacher to deal with. Caretaker came over to DH while he was being told this and confirmed it.

Last night I get a call from the school pastoral manager who said there was no CCTV in the area and as DS had not secured his bike there was nothing they could do! I then repeated what DH had been told which the lady knew nothing about and she said she would speak to the caretaker.

So today passes with no news. DS has not been informed of anything and I have little confidence in the school dealing with it so I decide to report it to the police who have said they will request the CCTV from the school.

AIBU or should school have dealt with this quicker?

OP posts:

Trifleorbust · 31/03/2017 08:49

Fleurdelise:

'At your own risk' means what it says. They don't have a duty to investigate. Schools are overstretched enough without having to chase round items of property that should have been locked up.

robinia · 31/03/2017 08:50

In the op it says there was no room in the bike shed. Perhaps there was therefore nowhere for op's ds and others to lock their bikes to. The school needs to invest in more bike sheds if this is the case.
I wish my dc's school was like this. No-one cycles to his school

user1469914265 · 31/03/2017 08:53

*Capricorn76 Fri 31-Mar-17 08:30:24
The victim blaming is winding me up.

I often leave my handbag unattended at work. If someone went in it whilst I was at a meeting and stole my purse I would expect my workplace to take it seriously. I am not going to drag my handbag around various meetings (which would look super weird anyway) and if something was stolen from it it would not be my fault as there's not enough space in my laptop locker*

But if you left it leaning against some railings outside??

Trifleorbust · 31/03/2017 08:54

DS did not secure it with his bike chain which was attached to his bike (he has learned his lesson now)

Sounds very much like he could have secured it to the railing it was leaning against.

Again, not his fault it was stolen, but the school isn't responsible in any way.

Fleurdelise · 31/03/2017 09:21

Trifle nobody says it is the school responsibility. However it is in the school's interest to cooperate, first because if the police gets involved they'd have to do exactly the same process, check cctv, identity if possible the thief, take statements, discipline the pupil etc, and second because as a responsible school in the community they surely want to know if they have a thief between their pupils.

I am grateful DS's school took action, while I understood from the beginning that the school had no responsibility in that situation, and by that I mean they would not cover the cost of the bike as it was left on their premises at DS's own risk, more so as it was unlocked and I have owned up to it so did DS, the fact that they cooperated and identified the pupil stealing it was a win win situation, DS got the bike back, they identified a pupil who was stealing and disciplined him accordingly.

It's similar like saying "if your car gets stolen from the front of my house I won't even bother checking cctv even though there is one and try and identify the thief because I can't be bothered" to a friend visiting. While I have no responsibility for my friends parking their car in front of my house surely I can check my cctv if I have one and help if I know who stole it (by involving the police or take action if the thief is under my care).

Trifleorbust · 31/03/2017 09:34

Fleurdelise:

I wouldn't mind helping a friend because I am not in the habit of inviting a thousand friends to my house every day. It is a one-off and of course I would go out of my way. When you are running a school you have so many plates to spin and so little time, you have to prioritise. And you do that by having policies, i.e. by all means bring in your bike, but if you fail to lock it up and it is stolen, it is your problem and our staff will not be running round the grounds after school hours checking CCTV. They will be doing their jobs. I think that is reasonable.

PorkyPandora · 31/03/2017 10:12

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

Trifleorbust · 31/03/2017 11:03

PorkyPandora:

I'm not horrible. When I am at school (currently on mat leave) I am just really, really busy. All day. I don't have time for this without compromising more important things in terms of my actual job. That is just a fact. Not everyone who doesn't give you what you want is being horrible.

allmycats · 31/03/2017 11:08

The victim blaming on here is very unpleasant. What I would find very concerning is that there was CCTV footage of this incident - which has been seen my a staff member and this same evidence has now been wiped. Why is the head denying there was CCTV when there clearly was.

Trifleorbust · 31/03/2017 11:11

allmycats:

If you mean me, there is no victim blaming here. The thief is fully responsible and the fault is his/hers.

fzz33 · 31/03/2017 11:22

@trifleorbust I get that you're busy. But this isn't an entitled parent saying 'track down my DS's bike for me, because he couldn't be bothered to lock it, and hunt down and punish the thief, and give me compensation, and change all of your rules and procedures...' plus a whole list of other unreasonable demands.

The school provides a locked facility which isn't adequate for the number of bikes who need it. IIRC it was a shed, which in my mind means it's very likely there weren't railings around it in order to lock a bike anyway. The OP has simply asked that they check the CCTV and do the reasonable thing. Busy or not, I would expect my school to do more than absolutely nothing, and the whole messing about with the CCTV thing is ridiculous and suspicious IMO. If your school is apparently understaffed that would not really be relevant to the fact that property was stolen on school premises, because of inadequate locking facilities, by a fellow pupil.

kierenthecommunity · 31/03/2017 11:41

'At your own risk' means what it says. They don't have a duty to investigate. Schools are overstretched enough without having to chase round items of property that should have been locked up.

The police are pretty overstretched too, but speaking as a cop here, I'd still say report it. In an ideal world the school would sort it (schools have a remit to sort out low level crime themselves, I forget under what legislation possibly PACE) but if they're not then the OP is definitely entitled to escalate it.

If the CCTV had been wiped as feared perhaps the caretaker could make a statement IDing the culprit, so all is not lost. Does the school have pics of the students they could look at to pick the kid out?

Trifleorbust · 31/03/2017 11:55

fzz33:

The OP implied he could have locked it up but didn't. If he couldn't have locked it up I would see it differently.

Fleurdelise · 31/03/2017 12:14

Trifle you keep going on about being locked or not, if it was locked but still stolen by cutting the lock would you check the cctv? Presumably that takes the same amount of time on your side?

Trifleorbust · 31/03/2017 12:22

Fleur:

I would if the person whose bike was stolen had acted as asked and locked it, yes.

wasonthelist · 31/03/2017 12:23

Off topic but I am sick to death of the mentality that anything not cloked up is fair game in this country and failing to lock/chain/bar everything makes any theft inevitable and even suggests the victim is to blame.

When I go to other countries I am amazed how they are able to leave things about apparently without them being thieved in ten seconds. How about trying to educate people from taking stuff that isn't theirs rather than turning everything into fort fucking knox to save the thieves from themselves?

Trifleorbust · 31/03/2017 12:24

Fleur:

And I don't think I am 'going on'. Please feel free not to talk to me if my droning on is putting you off.

Hereward1332 · 31/03/2017 12:38

Perhaps the school should see it not as their responsibility to investigate but as their responsibility to see which pupils are at risk of being drawn into more serious crimes (not to diminish bike theft). There is a strong correlation between anti-social behaviour in children and serious crime in later life. The school should step in to try to prevent escalation where possible.

Fleurdelise · 31/03/2017 12:40

The way I see it what you are doing is victim blaming Trifle. So you can't be bothered to investigate if it wasn't locked making it ok for somebody to help themselves just because the bike was there. Teaching the pupil who stole it (if it is a pupil from that school) that if he ever finds a car unlocked with the keys in the contact it is ok to help himself because you know, it wasn't secured properly.

I had a similar conversation with the parents of the pupil who stole DS's bike when they brought it back, who thought it was ok to point out to me that it wasn't locked. I obviously point it out to them that it doesn't entitle their cherub to help themselves to other people's stuff because they weren't properly secured.

I teach my kids that it isn't ok to take anything that doesn't belong to them even if it isn't locked/secured.

I for one I am happy my DS doesn't go to your school Trifle. It takes a village to raise a child and while the school and myself did have a chat with DS about securing his bike it wasn't his fault to believe that all the pupils at his school are honest and not thieves. And I hope the other child learnt his lesson by being excluded temporarily that it isn't right to take something that isn't his regardless if it is secured or not. But with his parents attitude similar to yours (victim blaming) I strongly doubt it.

xStefx · 31/03/2017 13:05

Poor boy having his bike stolen that sucks .
Just because the school don't have to take responsibility for the bike doesn't mean they shouldn't help if they clearly can.
After all it was stolen on their property and admittedly by a child that attends the school.
Disgusting attitude of the school. And there will always be victim blaming on even the most innocent of threads. It's the way some peoples minds work. No point trying to argue or reason with them, best just pity and ignore .

Trifleorbust · 31/03/2017 13:11

Fleurdelise:

Well, that is what I think anyway. I am not going to get into a longer debate because we are clearly on different pages. I don't mind that.

wasonthelist · 31/03/2017 13:45

Thatcher's children - it's only wrong if someone catches you.

kierenthecommunity · 31/03/2017 14:26

Totally agree. And with what Hereward said about the school surely not wanting potential thieves in school too, surely it's best to deal with it now before the kid starts thinking they can get away with anything?

TheNoodlesIncident · 31/03/2017 14:33

Has your ds marked his bike with his details OP? Police always recommended that you put your postcode or some identifying marks on it to ensure that if it gets recovered, you can prove it's yours?

My ds's scooter has his name on underneath (written on with a Sharpie) - not because I think it will get stolen, but so it won't get "mixed up" with someone else's...

KittyVonCatsington · 31/03/2017 15:23

Wow. An incredible rude personal attack on Trifle, OP. I am reporting.

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