(File photo © Jonathan Maus)
Police Officer Robert Pickett passes on the news that thew newly formed Southeast Precinct Neighborhood Enhancement Team, with help from the SE Precinct Bicycle Patrol, has uncovered a stash of stolen property.
“The loot” he says, includes nine “well-loved bicycles”.
Unfortunately, when he ran the serial numbers, none of them were registered.
Being a bicycle lover himself (up until recently he was a leader of the SE Bike Patrol unit), the situation has inspired his creativity and he sent me the following ode to serial numbers…
Serial Number Love
–by Robert PickettHow do we love our bikes?
We clean them, we light them, we buy that comfortable seat. We buy the rack, we attach the fenders, we wrap the reflective tape. Clipless pedals, single-speed hubs, computers, u-locks, mini tool bags, drop bars on mountain frames.
We make everything just so, like constructing a best friend. And then we ride.
Last week the newly-formed Southeast Precinct Neighborhood Enhancement Team, with some help from the Southeast Precinct Bicycle Patrol, uncovered a stash of stolen property.
The loot included nine well-loved bicycles. They were not fresh from the showroom, they were not rusted relics. They were good bikes, all lovingly adorned or slightly altered in the ways described above, all clearly daily-use steeds.
Only one had received the simplest expression of love, however, the kiss that allows the police to return lost friends to their owners. Only one had a serial number listed in the national database of stolen property.
A serial number is not required to report your bicycle stolen to the police, but it is by far the most important bit of information you can provide. It is quick and easy for any officer to ask dispatchers via radio to compare the serial number from a suspected stolen bicycle with the ones listed in the database. Physical descriptions are good too, but there are simply too many bicycles stolen and too many officers scattered among various precincts to efficiently and reliably disseminate that information.
Without the proof of ownership that the serial number provides, the police must often let hot bikes slip through their fingers. Last week the Neighborhood Enhancement Team also executed a search warrant on a suspected drug dealer’s house. Along with the hoped-for drug paraphernalia, the house contained five bicycles. We ran the serial numbers and one of them, a tandem, had been reported stolen. We took it back to the precinct. The others were clear, so we had to leave them there, though our guts were screaming that they must have been stolen too. It was maddening.
To avoid this fate, Pickett says everyone who rides a bike should:
- Locate the serial number on your bicycle (usually on the bottom of the bottom bracket), and write it down. There. Two minutes. Serial Number Love. Easier than installing a bike light.
- Tattoo the number onto your body. Or just keep it someplace else that is safe. If your bicycle is stolen, make a report to the police that includes the serial number. It will automatically be entered into the stolen property database.
- You might also take a digital photo of your bike and save it on your computer. A picture is easier for people to remember if you wanted to post fliers about your missing bike or give it to used bicycle shops. It also makes a more effective listing for finetoothcog.com or other online stolen bicycle listing sites.
As for the bikes Pickett and his team have recovered. Here are brief descriptions. If any of them sound familiar, please call Officer Pickett at Southeast Precinct (503-823-2143) and provide more details to prove the stolen bike is yours. Then, he’ll arrange for you to come and get it.
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#1 Diamondback Outlook
#2 Novara Carema Pro
#3 Scott Speedster 10
#4 Raleigh Passage 3.5
#5 Trek Multitrack 7200
#6 Gary Fisher Wingra
#7 Mongoose IBOC
And stay tuned for more writing from Officer Pickett…
When taking pictures of your possessions in addition to saving them on your computer it is a good idea to burn them on a cd and keep it at your office or send it to another member of your family to put in a safe place. My friend carefully photographed a bunch of items and recorded his serial numbers by photographing those too only to have all his work be for naught when the thieves who broke into his house stole his computer along with the rest of his stuff.
Bjorn
I keep the serial numbers in a draft email on my gmail account. That way, I can access those numbers anywhere.
Not that I\’ve recorded all of my numbers, which I really need to do. Thanks for the nudge Officer Pickett.
Thanks for the great article! I love the above poster\’s idea of keeping your bike\’s serial number info stored in your email inbox.
Another great idea is to have a friend take a polariod photograph of you with your bike. Then write the serial number, model, make, year, and any distinguishing features, additions, subtractions, scratches etc onto a blank postal mailing label, and stick it to the back of the polariod. Voila! You not only have the pertinent info for yr bike, but also photographic evidence of your ownership of it.
We did this as a SHIFT volunteer service at a bike parking event for a festival last year, and it was extremely well-received.
Here is how I keep my inventory, from a post on the forums.
http://bikeportland.org/forum/showthread.php?t=260&highlight=serial+number
Last year at the Salmon Nation Block Party, Shift hosted the monitored bike corral, but with a twist: thanks to the brainchild of Carl Larson and a generous \”donation\” of at-cost film from Pro Photo, Shift volunteers used a polaroid camera to take pictures of people with their bikes and collected the serial numbers from those bikes and provided each person with a photo/serial number record of their bike in case their bike was ever stolen.
Recording the appearance and serial number of your bike is the single most important thing you can do to have ANY chance of recovery.
When I toured the Clackamas County Sheriff\’s Office property room a few months ago, I noticed that they have as many as 65 recovered bicycles at any given time – many of which could have been stolen from Portland, Gresham, Hillsboro, etc. Without serial numbers, these bikes are held for months and then auctioned off.
Ah, I see Kirsty beat me to the punch.
I\’d love to see more volunteer stuff like that – maybe at MCBF next year.
Some bike advocacy groups (like SF Bike) distribute forms to their members so that they can write this stuff down and store it in their freezers…the type of \’safe\’ most families have.
http://www.sfbike.org/download/resources/freezer.pdf
Any suggestions for bicycles without serial numbers? My custom bike is laking one.
Brent – buy, rent or borrow an engraving tool and make one yourself. Make sure you seal the area afterwards to prevent corrosion (assuming the bike is not carbon)
And you might engrave your driver\’s license number, something like \”OR1234567.\” This is a number that officers can instantly check and tells us your name and address. It is called an \”owner applied number\” and you can put it on any valuable property you have.
what do you seal an engraving with?
rust
Damn. I really don\’t want to engrave the frame.
Anyone have any experience with metal style asset tags. I\’ve got one on my laptop form work. I\’m thinking one near the bottom bracket and hide one inside the frame someplace.
Oh yeah, I like the dirver\’s license number. That is a good one.
growing up my dad all ways engraved his driver ID nuber on our bikes (this being in the 1970\’s and 80\’s) and would you belive about 5 years agao he recved a phone call about one of my bikes being found. so as it goes along with having a good lock, its good to have a number engraved good on the bike as will.
This is not the only bike that was brought bake to us dure to having a ID number on the bike, my child is riding one of my bikes that was brought back from the dead two times.
I had no idea bikes had serial numbers. I now have mine recorded and in a safe place. Thanks for the article!!!