155 stolen bikes have been reported so far in the first five months of 2016. In 2015, reported bike thefts increased by 19% over 2014. The Santa Cruz Police Department recovers hundreds of bikes, but since many aren't registered by serial number, the police have no way to track down the owners. Help improve the chances of your bicycle being returned by registering it with SCPD’s Online Bicycle Registration program. It’s FREE!
Here's What You Can Do!
Along with keeping your bike locked up, it is also important that you register your bike. Registering your bicycle is more than just applying a sticker; it also provides the police with a written record of the bike’s pertinent information including the serial number. Having this information enables the police to enter the bike in the law enforcement computer system should it ever be stolen, or return it to you if it’s recovered.
Get Your Bike Back
To help return bikes to their proper owners & discourage theft in the first place, the Santa Cruz Police has developed a new online registration system. Our goal is to make every bike in the City of Santa traceable in this database. SCPD is committed to registering as many bicycles as possible.
Here's how it works
1. To register your bike simply complete the Bicycle Registration Form
2. Fill in info about your bike, with the serial number. The more detail you can provide about the bike the better.
3. You will receive a bicycle registration sticker by mail.
4. Apply the license decal on your bike.
Your bicycle registration provides SCPD with the necessary information so that if your bike is ever stolen, we would have a record of the serial number when you called to make your report. It enables us to then submit the information about your stolen bicycle into the law enforcement databases in a quick easy step.
What does it cost?
The online bike registration is free and never expires!
Who Benefits?
Everyone is encouraged to register their bikes to help deter theft and to assist officers should an owners bicycle be stolen or lost. If stolen and recovered registered bikes are more likely to be returned to their owners. The bicycle registration information is kept on file at the Santa Cruz Police Department. Even if an owner moves, SCPD will still be able to provide ownership information on the bicycle.
Solid police work and cyclists that had registered bikes put a bike thief in jail. SCPD was happy to reunited two bikes to back to their rightful owners.
An SCPD Officer doing a routine area check under the Soquel Bridge made contact with a suspect in possession of two bicycles that did not appear to belong to him. The Officer checked the serial numbers on both bikes in the SCPD data base for stolen bikes. Both cyclists had registered their bikes with serial numbers that identified the true bike owners.
SCPD is committed to reuniting bike back the rightful owner with every available tool. SCPD Instagram post reunites $7000 bike back to its rightful owner! A friend recognized the unique brand EVIL Insurgent bike posted on SCPD lnstagram and alerted the owner.
In January, SCPD recovered 22 stolen bikes from a fencing operation. We were able to reunite this rightful owner her with bike. However, many of the bikes remain unclaimed. This is primarily because we have no way to identify owners.
What's the bottom line?
The bikes that SCPD can't connect to their owners end up being donated or auctioned off. Registering your bicycle is smart because if it is stolen, and subsequently recovered, the owner stands a much higher chance of recovery than if the bicycle were never registered.
http://www.cityofsantacruz.com/departments/police/bicycle-license-registration
Bike Shops in the City of Santa Cruz interested in online registration partnerships contact bikereg@cityofsantacruz.com
SCPD bicycle license registration questions, please email bikereg@cityofsantacruz.com
SCPD Lost & Found, Recovered Property on Instagram and Pinterest
https://www.instagram.com/scpdproperty/
https://www.pinterest.com/scpdproperty/
Bike Theft: Realities and Risks
http://santacruzpolice.blogspot.com/2015/11/bike-theft-realities-and-risks.html
