If the school could keep it locked during the day, they could have kept it locked again till the kids and your son got back that night. I would hold them at least partially responsible. I mean, why should "bike security" change after normal school hours--when in fact, your son and others were on a school-sponsored trip?

Unfortunetly, BP, I've known about this attitude of Police for a while now. When I married my ex, he was a police officer--but really not the kind that usually goes on the streets. He did mostly but not always desk work. (He later left that job to do something else.) I've heard many stories! This is sad that the police won't "waste their time" on "unimportant" stuff like a stolen bike. They won't always help with a missing person, either. A friend was missing once, but the police wouldn't do anything--not even file a report. Yet there is another case where they were on a friend's @ to get her broken-down car moved--parked on the gravel shoulder of a rural road. What's also interesting is that my ex mentioned one officer he had worked with who was hired, despite not passing the psych eval of the interview/testing. This person was never under any psych counseling. I had met him a few times long ago, and he was to say the least, interesting. I remember he had this fascination with weapons, like military-style. Nice, funny guy in general, a little crazy. I know that police officers often are subject to mental health issues, but I have to wonder what determines if an officer is hired when s/he doesn't pass the psych eval? I can only hope it's the severity being mild or slight. And then, why wouldn't the officer be required to undergo counseling?