How to register your bicycle

Video: How to Register a BikeFirst, find your bicycle's serial number.

Visit the Toronto Police Service Bicycle Registry website. Even if you live outside of the Toronto Police Service's jurisdiction, you can register your bicycle here.

You will need to provide contact information and a description of your bicycle, including the serial number. If you would rather do this in person, download the registration pamphlet. Fill out the pamphlet and deliver it in person to your nearest police station, or mail it to:  

Toronto Police Service Headquarters, 40 College St., Toronto, ON M5G 2J3.

If you sell your bicycle, you should contact the Toronto Police Service at (416) 808-2222 and ask to remove your name from the Bicycle Registry. The new owner can then register the bicycle under his or her own name.

Why you should register your bicycle

If your bicycle were stolen tonight, do you have any way of identifying it? Do you know its serial number? If not, chances are slim you'll ever recover it. Your stolen property report won't be useful to police and can't be entered in the Canadian Police Information Centre (CPIC) database of stolen property. Recovered bicycles are checked against the CPIC database; if your stolen bicycle isn't listed there, the police won't be able to contact you to return the bicycle.

Identifying elements on bicycles are easily removed or stripped; this is common practice among bicycle thieves who steal huge numbers of bicycles and strip, rebuild, and repaint them to avoid identification. Even if a stolen bicycle isn't stripped, the only way to uniquely identify a bicycle is by its serial number. Bicycle thieves operate under the assumption that most bicycles aren't registered and that their owners don't know their serial numbers. When police seized approximately 3,000 bicycles from convicted thief Igor Kenk in 2008, only 450 could be returned to their owners. The Toronto Police Service acknowledges lack of registration as a chief barrier to pursuing bicycle thieves and restoring stolen bicycles to their owners.

By registering your bicycle with the Toronto Police Service, you can ensure that your serial number is kept permanently on record and easily retrievable. If you have to report the theft (see below), you simply need to give your contact information and the police can then retrieve the serial number to flag the bicycle as stolen.

Many people don't register their bicycles because they perceive the registration process ineffective, and that stolen bicycles will never be restored to their owners. The REGISTER/REPORT/CHECK campaign hopes to address this perception by encouraging all bicycle owners to register their bicycles, to report bicycle theft, and to check used bicycles against the CPIC stolen property registry. If more cyclists perform all three steps, then we can create an environment in the city that discourages thieves by making it more difficult to get away with bicycle theft and to sell stolen property.

If you don't want to register

Some people simply don't want to register their bicycles with the police for a number of other reasons. Although we believe that registering your bicycle with the Toronto Police Service is the most effective way to ensure a stolen bicycle can be identified and returned to you, if you chose not to register your bicycle you should record all information requested in the Bicycle Registration form. Keep this info in a safe place and, if your bicycle is stolen, use it to make a report to the police.

How to report a theft

Report the theft to your local police. You should be prepared to provide a description of your bicycle, the serial number, and personal contact information when you make your report. To retrieve your registration details, including serial number, from the Toronto Police Bicycle Registry, call the TPS at (416) 808-2222.

In Toronto, fill out a stolen property report online or call the Toronto Police Service by phone between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m. at (416) 808-2222 and press 0. Alternatively, you can visit your nearest police station to fill out a report in person. Find your local police division and nearest police station by clicking here.

In Peel Region, fill out a stolen property report online or call (905) 453-3311. Visit the Peel Regional Police website to learn more.

In Halton Region, fill out a stolen property report online or call (905) 825-4777 ext. 5164. Visit the Halton Regional Police website to learn more.

In York Region, call 1-866-876-5423 to report the theft. Visit the York Regional Police website to learn more.

In Durham Region, call 1-888-579-1520 to report the theft. Visit the Durham Regional Police website to learn more.

Why you should report bicycle theft

When you report a stolen bicycle to the police, the report is filed with the Canadian Police Information Centre, a national database of stolen property maintained by the RCMP. This CPIC database is freely accessible to everyone.

If a stolen bicycle is recovered in Toronto, the police can check the Bicycle Registry to see if it has been registered. However, if it is recovered outside Toronto, a stolen property report in the CPIC database will be the only way to ensure local police can identify the owner and restore the bicycle.

The database for stolen bicycles can only be searched by serial number. When stolen bicycles are recovered by the police, serial numbers are checked against the CPIC database. If the theft was reported, and the report included the serial number, the stolen bicycle can be restored to the rightful owner. Police are often frustrated by recovering stolen bicycles, because the lack of reporting means that there is no way to identify the owners and to return the bicycles. Every year, police auction thousands of stolen bicycles they have recovered but whose rightful owners they were unable to identify.

Reporting bicycle theft cannot ensure that your stolen bicycle is recovered; however, if you don't report the theft, there is little chance you will get your bicycle back.

Because members of the public can also check the CPIC database, (see below), reporting theft can make stolen bicycles more difficult to sell. We encourage all prospective bicycle buyers to check used bicycles against the CPIC database and, most importantly, to never buy stolen bicycles.

Many people don't report theft because they perceive the reporting process ineffective, and that stolen bicycles will never be restored to their owners. The REGISTER/REPORT/CHECK campaign hopes to address this perception by encouraging all bicycle owners to register their bicycles, to report bicycle theft, and to check used bicycles against the CPIC stolen property registry. If more cyclists perform all three steps, then we can create an environment in the city that discourages thieves by making it more difficult to get away with bicycle theft and to sell stolen property.

How to find out if a bicycle is stolen

To find out if a bicycle is stolen, search for the serial number in the CPIC database. You can to this using the Is This Bike Stolen web app. Is This Bike Stolen is a mobile-compatible, browser-based interface that checks the CPIC database. You can access it from a mobile browser on your phone or other Internet device.Video: How to Avoid Buying a Stolen Used Bike

To find a bicycle's serial number, click here.

If the serial number appears in the CPIC database, it means that this serial number was reported stolen. Please note that, in rare cases, serial numbers are duplicated by manufacturers, so you should check that the description of the bicycle - especially the frame - matches the stolen property report. Also, be aware that the person selling the bicycle may not have been the person to steal it.

Because CPIC is a nation-wide service, bicycles stolen anywhere in Canada may appear in the database. This is helpful because thieves will often transport stolen bicycles to new towns in an attempt to evade police.

If you come across a bicycle that is reported stolen, do not buy the bicycle! Tell the seller you're not interested and leave. If you think you have come across a stolen bicycle, you can report it anonymously at Canadian Crime Stoppers or by calling 1-800-222-TIPS.

Why you should check if a used bike is stolen

Remember, most bicycle thieves steal bicycles because they want to sell them. Stolen bicycles change hands so easily because people rarely check to see if the bicycles are stolen. When we stop buying stolen bicycles, the market will dry up. Help keep Toronto bicycles safe by participating in all three steps of the REGISTER/REPORT/CHECK campaign.

As buyers begin to use Is This Bike Stolen to check the CPIC database, two things will happen: first, the chance of being called out on selling stolen property may deter thieves from stealing; second, making it more difficult to sell a stolen bicycle may also make it less worthwhile for thieves to steal and sell them.

Video: How to Find the Serial Number on a Bike Virtually every bicycle has a unique serial number, most commonly on the bottom bracket. Serial numbers cannot easily be tampered with - a tampered serial number is a sure sign of theft.

The diagram indicates the most common serial number locations. The majority of serial numbers are located under the bottom bracket where the two pedal cranks meet (yellow arrow). Simply turn your bicycle upside down and record the number. If there is no serial number there, then check places like the headset at the front of the bicycle or the rear stays (white arrows).

Some letters in serial numbers are ambiguous and can be easily confused. Some bicycles have multiple serial numbers - only one is the unique ID number, the rest are product numbers shared with thousands of other bicycles. If you are unsure about the serial number, you can contact your bicycle's manufacturer to help determine the correct number. If you are unable to contact the manufacturer, register your bicycle multiple times under different versions of the serial number.

Please note that there is a very small chance of serial number collision, meaning that the same number is used by different manufacturers on different bicycles. Although the odds of finding another bicycle with the same number as yours in the Toronto Bike Registry or CPIC databases are low, you can avoid confusion by ensuring that you include a description of your bicycle in the registration and/or theft report.