A database scheme linking police with cycle retailers has helped to reunite a student with his two stolen bicycles.
When Lancashire Police officers recovered a £500 Cube bicycle in Lancaster recently, they were unable to trace its owner through their crime reports. It soon became clear that the bike was only stocked by one local retailer – and this retailer was a participant in the police-led Operation Chainguard scheme.
Chainguard is aimed at reducing bicycle thefts in Lancaster and Morecambe, while increasing the ability to return a bike to its owner should it be stolen. When a bicycle is purchased at a participating retailer, the customer’s information can be stored on a centralised, secure database, which can be accessed by police officers following the report of a theft.
After consulting the database, officers saw that the cycle had been registered to Lancaster University student Pinyi Ren. The 19-year-old, from Shanghai, told police he had been unsure as to how he should report his bike as stolen when its chain was cut and it was taken from a bike storage unit on campus. Instead, he bought a new £150 bike – but this was also then stolen.
Attending the police station to collect his recovered Cube bike, the business studies student described his second bike and a check of the station revealed that it was also in the unclaimed property storage area.
Sgt Tristan Heaword, who is part of the Chainguard Team said: "We have over 500 cyclists signed up to the database, which records the make, model, colour and serial number of their new purchase. If the bike is unfortunately stolen and we then recover it we can use this information to return it to its rightful owner.
"In this case the database helped reunite Pinyi with not just one, but two of his cycles that had been stolen. We hope that the scheme will have continuing success on this front in the future."
