The number of bike thefts in Mission has skyrocketed.
The Mission RCMP confirm that a significant increase in bike thefts have occurred in 2018. According to RCMP stats, there have been 26 bicycles reported stolen compared to 13 at this time last year.
The majority of the bike thefts happened in July alone.
To date, the Mission RCMP have seized more bikes in 2018 than what have been reported stolen, but have only been able to return a handful of them to the rightful owners.
An RCMP press release says a “common problem with bike theft is that owners rarely record serial numbers for the bikes they purchase. This makes it very difficult to connect bikes that are believed to be stolen to their rightful owners.”
In response to the issue of theft, police have looked for ways to be proactive as opposed to reactive. The newly formed Mission RCMP Street Enforcement Unit has successfully deployed bait bikes throughout Mission which has lead to several arrests.
Alongside these efforts, the Mission RCMP in conjunction with the District of Mission are promoting an anti-bicycle theft program titled “Project 529 Garage”.
READ MORE: Mission bike thefts rising
It is an online registry system that allows bike owners to register their bikes with information such as the make, model, serial number and photographs within the 529 Garage online community.
When a bicycle gets stolen, an alert goes out to the online community to be on the look out for the bike and allows the owner to provide the proper information to police. Owners can also put a tamper-proof 529 Garage sticker with a unique seven-digit code they can enter in the system and acts as an additional identifier as well as a theft deterrent.
The Mission RCMP are encouraging all bicycle owners to register their bicycles on the Project 529 Garage website at project529.com or get the mobile app.
