VIDEO. Thanks to a Facebook group, Gregoire found the stolen bicycle.

BIKLU, EPISODE 27 – “Some said: “You can’t seem to believe it”; I answered them: “Well, no, I can’t believe it!” “It was unreal, absolutely incredible and frankly cool! “- Gregoire admires.

This resident of Asnières still finds it difficult to believe in the incredible scenario into which he, against his will, plunged on October 24th.

Thanks to social media, an alert courier and luck, this amateur cyclist managed to recover a bike that was stolen from his garden 4 days ago.

The mountain was found just over 8 km away, at the foot of the Barbes-Rochechouart metro station, in the 10th arrondissement of Paris.

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“The message is a bit like a bottle in the sea.”

On the evening of October 23, this father left his fixed-gear bike in his garden in Asnieres without securing it: “It was an oversight, partly my fault.”

The next morning he discovers that the fixie has been stolen. “The first thing I had to say to myself was, ‘I’m going to file a complaint.’

Grégoire then scours the Internet through several thousand ads for used bicycles to try to find this everyday item that he has a deep affection for: “It’s a bicycle whose real value I don’t know because I’ve ridden it myself. But if you compare it with a bike sold commercially, I think it will cost about 800 euros.”

He then posts to several Facebook groups about urban cycling and recovering stolen bikes in the region. “The message is a bit like a bottle in the sea. I didn’t believe it. I didn’t think for a second that this could help,” recalls the forty-year-old man.

“I saw your bicycle in Barbes and shuddered.”

A few days later, Paul is racing near the Barbes-Rochechouart metro station on his khaki bicycle.

This courier, very attentive to the beautiful bicycles he passes, catches a glimpse of this exquisite and original model standing on the pedals on the sidewalk: “I told myself that it was probably there for a reason and was undoubtedly for sale, I just slowed down move a little and looked at the bike. The guys in front looked at me askance, and I left.” That same evening, Paul came across a wanted poster for Grégoire and warned him in the comments: “I saw your bicycle in Barbès and shuddered.”

The courier returns the next day to the same place.

Contrary to all expectations, the bicycle is still standing near the metro gate. Gregoire is on a business trip to Nantes.

Paul then decides to tie up and immobilize the stolen bike with his own lock, a few meters away from the thieves. “I think my heart rate has increased a little bit. I was a little scared because there were some strange guys along the way that we didn’t necessarily want to deal with.”

Having just returned from the Loire-Atlantique, Grégoire contacted the local police station and decided to retrieve his horse as quickly as possible under police escort: “The fact that the police were there was still very reassuring. I was convinced they weren’t going to go steal the bike, and in fact they were really into it.”

According to Damien Vallot, central commissioner of the 15th arrondissement, the police are increasingly required to provide support to victims who themselves have identified networks of resale of their goods: “These victims tend to carry out investigations very quickly. This is happening very, very quickly and requires an extraordinary response from us.”

It is therefore increasingly common to see field teams arresting traffickers of stolen goods during false transaction meetings set up by well-informed victims.

“Police officers use these tools, we must learn and develop. Firstly, because the methods of work of offenders themselves are evolving, and secondly, because these tools [en ligne] great opportunities for exchanging views on flights,” continues the commissioner.

An anti-crime brigade agent in the north of Paris even told us, on condition of anonymity, that he relies on Facebook groups for reporting bicycle thefts to help spot stolen bikes when he patrols his sector.

Effective social networks to combat bike theft

The operation to return Gregoire was successful. He was able to find his bike unharmed after sawing off the thief’s lock, which remained attached to his frame. “In the end, it was thanks to Facebook and my ad that we managed to find him,” rejoices this enthusiastic passenger.

An experience that improved his perception of social media: “It’s a bit like putting thousands of posters on every post on the street that say, ‘I’ve lost my cat,’ and someone finds it.”

“It’s very clear that this story, if it happened, was largely due to social media and the power of distribution of these groups where there are people who are interested in the same thing,” Paul adds.

Thanks to these Facebook groups, other bikes have been discovered and recovered in recent weeks, especially the most original and recognizable models. “We are finding them more and more often,” confirms Commissioner Vallo, who encourages cyclists to Bicycode their bikes and mark every detail of the model: “Take a photo, even if it means something like a bicycle ID card. Say something other than “I bought a Rockrider Decathlon” when filing a complaint. »

He also encourages systematic filing of complaints in case of theft. “It’s extremely frustrating for a police officer to find two or three bicycles during a search, sometimes worth several hundred euros, and not know who to return them to.”