Portuguese police was useless, so I solved the problem myself
I live in Estoril. I don’t have a car, so I actively use Electric Kick Scooter — it’s my primary transport.
In April it was stolen. I park it outside, near the house, fixing it with a lock. The man who stole it just came to our call neighborhood, cut the lock and left with my scooter.
The beauty is that I have location tracking on my scooter — every few hours I get an update of its location. I can literally see my scooter on the map.
I called police, they refused to speak English. No problem: I visited their office and explained everything — showed location of the scooter, described the man who stole it (neighbor saw him through window). They took my report and said they will do something.
A few days later I tracked down my scooter to one specific house. I came to location myself, and literally could see and hear my scooter through the fence.
I went back to police and showed the photo of my scooter on the private property.
They said nothing, just: wait for our investigation. They didn’t ask me about address or any other details.
I just came back to address and took the scooter back myself.
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Comments3
Purple Pickletop
May 2
I have a scooter and it was robbed 3 times, each time I had to go get it back myself. I put an airtag deep in it so I could track its location. The 1st time it was badly locked in rossio and some junkies tole it and wanted to sell it quick for drug money, was easy enough to get it back. Second time stolen right under my nose when at a terrace in honest greens, tracked it and it was left badly locked on a post so I got it back. 3rd time a thief lifted up the street sign it was locked on and quickly took it on a train to cakpolide and left it at home. After enough time passed for me to get some courage I went to the guy's home and confronted his mom who was home and I said “the police sent me here to come and fetch it, or else they will come”. She facetimed her son who then told her to let me and my friend go ina and retrieve my scooter. In the 3rd case I made a complaint to the police when it was stolen but they have been useless. They didn't even manage to get the cctv footage from the rossio or campolide atations as I knew the exact time the thief stole the scooter and which train he took. Honestly, better be brave than rely on the cops. Their system is super bureaucratic and too many agents are spending time hanging out at the office instead of going out and stopping crime. Portugal has a history of being chill which I like, and I understand the police “cant be too strict because of the history of dictatorship”, but they do need to start having a sense of responsibility and feeling that their job matter and that they can make a difference. I believe the Judges play a large part in “castrating” the police because crimes here often go unpunished or severely underpunished. And it must be terrible as a police to do your job and then see the court let the ceiminals go the next day. Serious reforma are needed.
Rose Exoplanet
May 26, 2025
You're based af for doing that, but be careful to never admit it as you yourself can end up being charged for trespassing or worse.
White Sunshine
May 26, 2025
Yeah, if the stolen property isn’t above a great amount, and there isn’t any violence, and the proofs aren’t very very strong, the police, or at least some of them, don’t bother to try to solve it.
Its the path of least work/effort. There’s a lot of that here