The Brooklyn South Safety Patrol/Boro Park Shomrim are advising members of the community that it will hold its annual Bike Registration Day on Sunday, June 15, from 1:00 pm to 7:00 pm. The location for this popular yearly event will be the public School yard on 47th St. 18 & 19th Av’s.

The patrol has been doing a Bike Registration Day every year for the past 12 years – and it’s really caught on in the last few years, with over 1,000 bicycles, each year both children’s and adults’, registered with the patrol in each of the past five years, including 2,000 last year alone.

Bike registration functions not unlike the way state registration of cars and trucks works. At no cost to the owner, the Shomrim patrol gives each bicycle being registered a unique number, which is indelibly etched into the framework of the bike using a metal-cutting tool, and the owner is given an official registration card, which should be kept somewhere other than with the bicycle itself. In the event that bike is ever lost or stolen, and the owner files a police report, should the bike later turn up (and they frequently do), the registration number proves ownership, so the stolen bike can be returned to its rightful owner. It also conclusively establishes the guilt of a bike thief caught with the goods who tries to lie his way out of trouble by insisting that he “owns” that particular bicycle – the registration card will say otherwise, in clear black and white.

Last year, about 125 bicycles which had been previously registered were stolen in the Boro Park area, and police later recovered more than half of them – and the owners got them back, a truly amazing statistic. In contrast, bike owners who don’t register bikes that later get stolen almost never recover their cycles; even if the police later find a bunch of stolen bikes, it’s almost impossible to match a particular bike back up with its owner if there is no registration number, and such recovered bikes are usually auctioned off by the Police Department, along with other unclaimed recovered merchandise.

“Bike registration is not like LoJack,” a Shomrim spokesman said, referring to the stolen-vehicle tracking system some motorists have installed in their cars. “If a bike is stolen, we can’t track it on a radar screen – some of the kids think we can, but unfortunately, they’re wrong – but what we can do, if the bike is stolen and the police or the Shomrim patrol later find it, it is easier to get it back to the rightful owner, IF the bike was previously registered with us and If the owner files a police report after the theft.”

(The Shomrim strongly urge victims of bike theft or any other kind of crime to promptly file a police report, even if people tell you “it’s a waste of time and won’t do any good”; police reports provide the raw data from which the police and the patrol can sometimes figure out patterns that will lead to a criminal being caught, and can sometimes be used to connect past crimes with a criminal suspect, adding additional charges to his indictment and making it more likely he will be convicted or plead guilty and go to jail for a longer sentence).

Of course, even better than getting your bike back is not having it stolen in the first place.
To stop bike theft – which is big problem in the spring and summer, when numerous kids are out riding their bikes – the Shomrim recommend that parents order their children, under penalty of taking their bikes away from them, to NEVER LEAVE THEIR BIKES UNATTENDED, EVEN FOR A MINUTE! A kid may hop off his bike and throw it down on the front lawn of a friend’s house – or even his own house – to go to the back yard or inside the house for just a few moments, but that’s all the time a determined bike thief needs to pedal away with it.

While securing an unattended bike to a metal fence or other strong stationary object with a chain and padlock or better yet, a bike lock, is certainly preferable to leaving it unprotected altogether, the Shomrim warn that some thieves will not be deterred by such devices; many carry bolt cutters that can snap even a heavy chain, and some even have tools capable of breaking a supposedly invulnerable bike lock. Such devices probably will discourage the casual grab-and-ride thief and thus have some value, but at best they will only slow up and inconvenience a really determined bike-napper, particularly if it is an expensive bike he’s trying to steal. Wherever possible, a bike should be brought into the house, even if it’s for only a few minutes, rather than left alone outside, even in the back yard.

It is especially important not to leave bikes outside – even if chained or locked – overnight, when many bike thefts take place under the cover of darkness. Even a back yard is not a secure location. Better to bring the bike into the house or apartment. If the bike is in a garage, it should be chained and locked, even if the garage door is pulled down and locked.

*Bike thieves have been known to break into garages, figuring – correctly in most cases – that the bike inside is not chained or locked.

*Bikes should not be left out – and certainly never unsecured – even on a porch or balcony; the Shomrim recently busted an athletic thief who had climbed up a ladder to a second-story balcony, grabbed an expensive, unsecured bicycle, and was climbing down the ladder, holding the bike above his head, when he was caught.

*Don’t leave a bike chained to a fence, bike rack or other stationary object for several days at a time; bike owners who did this have sometimes found the frames of their bikes still there – but the wheels, pedals, seats, lights and other accessories stolen.

*Watch out for bike thieves casing your area, looking for wheels to steal. Beware groups of boys or young men on bikes, riding up and down your street, particularly if some of them are doubling up on bikes in hopes of hopping off, stealing an unattended bike and pedaling away. A person slowly riding one bike while guiding a second, riderless bike alongside with his free hand is a sure tip off that the second bike has been stolen. Call the Shomrim 24/7 Emergency Hotline (718-871-6666) if you are suspicious.

*If someone approaches you, or goes into a store, trying to make a quick sale of an obviously expensive bike for a cheap price, the seller may be an addict trying to “fence” a hot bike for the price of a fix or two. If possible, try to stall the seller there and excuse yourself “to go get some money” or “call someone who will bring money” – and then UNOBTRUSIVELY call the Shomrim’s Hotline). Keep the seller talking until the Shomrim arrive. If he leaves before then, give a description and his likely direction of flight to patrol members.

*If your bicycle, or your child’s bicycle is stolen, immediately file a police report. Bring your Bicycle Registration Card with you (never keep it with the bike). In the following days, keep your eyes open, or have your child keep his or her eyes open for the stolen bike. They may see some other person riding it on the streets or at the park, or it might be chained to a poll on the street If you or they are sure it is the stolen bike, DO NOT ATTEMPT TO RECOVER IT YOURSELF; immediately call the police or the Shomrim and explain the situation. If it is your bike and you can prove it – YOU WILL GET IT BACK.

For Information please Call 718-851-3927
Boro Park Shomrim Patrol 24/7 Emergency Hotline 718-871-6666