Montreal does not currently have a law similar to Article 223-7 of the Latham County Penal Code, but a video posted to a popular local Facebook page has some wondering if there should be.
Not much is known about the two minute and 26 second clip, other than it was filmed on Friday at around 5:00 A.M. by someone on Chapleau St. in the Plateau-Mont-Royal borough and later posted to the 'Spotted: Montreal' Facebook group.
It appears to show a man, using a garbage bin to remove a couple of 'No Parking' signs from a pole. Once out of the way the man can be seen lifting the bike up, but quickly putting it back down as a car passes by. Seemingly in the clear, the man returns to the top of the trash bin and lifts the bike high enough so the U-lock used to secure the bicycle to the pole is no longer in the way.
He then hops on and bikes off.
As of Monday morning the video has been seen more than 275,000 times and been shared about 4,500 times.
Many of the hundreds of comments heavily criticize the author of the video, all chastising them for filming the alleged theft and doing nothing about it.
"Did the person recording it at least call the police?" one person asked. "Some people simply like to watch the world burn. This guy is one of them" another said.
According to police and cycling groups, this type of theft is not uncommon. Cyclists are advised to lock their bikes to stands designed to keep them from being stolen.
Some tips from Montreal police on how to keep your bike safe:
Approximately 2,000 bicycles are reported stolen every year, but most thefts are not reported. A police spokesperson said there was no report of a bike being stolen on Chapleau St. Friday.