The Calgary Police Service Partners with Bike Index

The Calgary Police Service has partnered with Bike Index, a free, online bike registration service, to help return stolen bikes back to their rightful owners.

“Bike thefts in Calgary have always been an issue, however we have seen a growing trend of this crime in our city in the last few years and we wanted to see what we could do to address the issue and better support victims,” said Constable Brennan Vanderwater of the Calgary Police Service. “We hope that by partnering with Bike Index we will be able to return more recovered bikes back to Calgarians.”

On average, approximately 2,900 bikes were reported stolen to the CPS each year between 2015 and 2018, with a return rate of approximately 12 per cent of those recovered. A CPS Bike Index pilot project team started using the Bike Index app in 2019 to see if it would be helpful to officers when dealing with recovered stolen bikes. Their hope was to increase the return rate of bikes back to rightful owners.

“Officers from the pilot project saw successes with Bike Index almost immediately, and in May 2020 alone, we returned over $12,000 worth of bikes to Calgarians with Bike Index’s help,” said Const. Vanderwater.

An important step in returning stolen bikes back to their rightful owners is that officers require owners to supply them with their bike’s serial number, which unfortunately can escape some owners. By registering a bike with Bike Index, owners are provided easily accessible documentation, including their bike’s serial number, which can be looked up by police and help with the return of their stolen bike.

It is important to note that Bike Index does not replace the need for citizens to report their stolen property to the CPS, however it is an added method to report and recover stolen bikes.

In addition to registering a bike on Bike Index, owners can pick up a Bike Index sticker at local CPS district offices, as well as participating bike shops in Calgary, to connect their bike with their registered user account. As an added bonus, Bike Index reports that the stickers also act as a deterrent to thieves.

For more details on the CPS’s partnership with Bike Index and how to register your bike, visit our website and search ‘Bike Index’, or click here.

Still have questions about using Bike Index? Click here and check out their website.