Police advise cyclists to register bike details

The Manchester Evening News has recently reported on the ongoing problem of bicycle crime. In Wythenshawe PC Steve Le Cheminant has reunited hundreds of owners with their stolen cycles, in the last six months alone, Pc Le Cheminant has seized 55 bikes and arrested 15 people for theft and handling stolen goods.

The 55-year-old officer has even personally returned bikes before they have been reported stolen, after tracking down their owners through manufacturers and retailers.

Pc Le Cheminant, who has served for 29 years, said:

It is very satisfying returning them to their owners, they can’t thank you enough.

Some will not even report them stolen because they don’t think they have a chance of seeing them again.

But police do take bike theft seriously. A lot of burglars and other criminals, especially the younger generation, use them as a way to get around.

Sometimes searches of the offenders’ properties lead to more stolen goods, drugs and weapons.

We can trace the bike owners through crime reports on the police computers, although some make it difficult by just describing say an expensive bike as ‘a blue one’.

Around 430,000 bikes are stolen in Britain each year, usually sold for anything from £10 to more than £300. Cyclists can combat bike theft by recording the serial number, taking pictures, locking them with robust device such as a D-shaped shackle, and registering them and other valuables on immobilise.com.

Of the 55 bikes seized recently in Wythenshawe, Pc Le Cheminant has managed to return 45 to their owners.

Sergeant Jane Butler said:

As the arrests of Pc Le Cheminant demonstrate, we have already had a huge success in retrieving stolen cycles and we hope to build on this.

Residents can assist the police by making sure they secure their bikes when they are leaving them, even for just a short time.

If a thief spots a chance to steal something and get away they will.

To read the source article in full please go to: Manchester Evening Post