Free help protecting your bike

Friday 21 March 2014

Police are holding another free event to mark bikes and get them registered online to try to reduce the number of bike thefts every year.

Officers will be at Les Quennevais Precinct from 2 pm to 5 pm on Sunday to help Islanders try to protect their bikes against theft. In 2012, 169 bikes were reported stolen in Jersey, up from 130 the year before. Police say that cyclists can do more to protect their property, by having their bikes marked and registered online with bikeregister.com, and by making sure they have a good sturdy lock.

Acting Inspector Jez Payne said: “When people spend have spent a substantial amount of money on their pedal cycles it is imperative that they don’t just spend pennies on their locks. This initiative we hope will discourage cycle thefts however we still need the public to be vigilant when securing their cycles.

“We often find that when members of the public report their bike stolen they do not know what their serial number is or sometimes what their bike looks like. As you can appreciate this makes it increasingly difficult for officers to reunite the bike with the owner if it is subsequently recovered.

“We would like everyone to pop down to one of these marking events and let us register your bike for you. It should only take a few minutes of your time and hopefully will help cut crime in the island.”

Police say that people can also pop down to the Enquiry Desk at headquarters in Rouge Bouillon to get their bikes marked, and that the forms are on their www.Jersey.Police.uk website, and that they will be posting the time and place of their next bike marking events on Facebook or Twitter.