Police and Retailers Team Up To Tackle Cycle Crime

Humberside Police and cycle shops across the region are continuing to work together to register new cycles onto www.immobilise.com.

Beverley Car and Cycles, Minster Cycles , Wilsons Wheels  and Halfords in Beverley are all taking part in the scheme to help tackle bike crime by assisting customers with registering their newly purchased or repaired cycles for free onto the property registration site at point of purchase.

Completed registration forms are then used to create an on-line account on the property registration site by a Humberside Police Community Safety Volunteer.

Once registered with an account the owners are then encouraged to add further property onto their personal immobilise account.

www.immobilise.com is a FREE web based property recording system, endorsed and searchable by all UK Police Forces. This is a fantastic tool, used by police across the UK. It allows members of the public to register property details of cycles, mobile phones and other electricals on-line for FREE, which then assists police in returning items to their rightful owners and helps bring offenders to justice.

In addition to Police searching for stolen property, registered second hand dealers and mobile phone recyclers frequently access the data and are assisting in the fight against the market in stolen goods.

If a member of the public was to buy a secondhand item they could also check it for a small cost on www.checkmend.com/uk/, prior to purchase.

To date twenty four stores have completed this service for their customers.

Chief Inspector Iain Dixon, Force lead for cycle theft said: “It is great the stores across Humberside are embracing the opportunity to support the police in tackling cycle crime, with thousands of cycles uploaded onto immobilise via cycle stores.

“I hope by increasing cycles registered on-line we can reduce cycle thefts. Thieves are generally reluctant to steal property which is identifiable as it increases the chances of them being prosecution for stealing or handling stolen property.

“People really should consider using the website “CheckMEND” to check any second-hand cycle (or indeed any item with a unique serial number) they are looking to purchase. Humberside Police are uploading the serial / frame number of all items reported to us as stolen onto the database and the use of CheckMEND can protect members of the public from inadvertently buying stolen goods. Check thoroughly any bike you are thinking of buying 2nd hand. If it is too good to be true it generally is and may well be stolen. If you purchase it you raise the possibility of committing an offence yourself.

Cycle theft is a crime type were crime prevention can have a massive impact and a small personal investment can drastically reduce your chance of becoming a victim.

Top Five Tips to prevent cycle theft:

1. Never leave your bike outside your house or in your garden (front or back) unlocked. Ideally store it in your house, particularly if it is worth a lot, but if you have to keep it in a shed or garage make sure the shed or garage has a good quality lock and block out any windows. Don’t just leave your bike in a shed or garage, lock it inside and consider locking it to a cycle anchor that is bolted to the wall or floor. Also consider fitting a shed alarm.

2. Good quality locks make all the difference when it comes to the theft of bikes. Spend a bit of money on a decent lock and you will really reduce the chance of your bike being stolen.

3. If you are leaving your bike in the street, where possible, use well-lit cycle stands that are fixed to the ground and lock both your frame and your wheels to the stand. If there are no stands lock your bike to secure street furniture like railings and lamp posts.

4. Lock your bike in places where there are plenty of people and ideally a spot covered by a CCTV camera.

5. Think twice about posting ‘track My Ride’ app results or pictures of your bike on social media sites, especially if your home address can also be viewed. Most Track My Ride apps have settings which stop within a given distance of your home address. Check your security settings and set at least a 1000m exclusion zone around your house.