It's not quite the village stocks -- but it's the Internet, which means the shaming is all the more public. And it's shaming bicycle thieves.
The San Francisco Police Department has started a new Twitter feed dedicating to outing bike thieves to the public, according to SFist.
"[T]he twitpic version of Wanted posters" are posted on @SFPDBikeTheft, and users are already finding that their bikes can be identified and recovered with help from the feed, according to the website.
Police have used the Twitter feed to respond to photos from the public, including an Instragram of a man caught in the act. The feed identified him by name.
@Marccaz @plattyjo - Charles Vogel This person is a recidivist bike thief. Call 911 if you see him near a bike. pic.twitter.com/CiJjT4UORj — SFPD Anti Bike Theft (@SFPDBikeTheft) August 7, 2013
The police recovered 850 stolen bikes last year and returned 150 to their rightful owners, the news website reported.
