Police frame tagging - any point?

[Custom24]

I just picked up a UV marker and some tags from our local PCSO.

The UV marker I can see the point of. He suggested marking under the saddle. It's only a marker, so some solvent will remove it if a thief has any gumption, but it's worth a shot and costs nothing.

The tags I was a bit disappointed with. They're just stickers on which you write your postcode. The PCSO said they were tamper proof, which I think means they are difficult to remove. It seems that you stick them on and then wrap the clear section of the sticky plastic over the bit you've written on. The PCSO suggested wrapping them round the seat post. That seems not great to me as obviously the seat post can be removed. But I'm quite reluctant to sully my frame with these.

Anyone have any thoughts?

 

[vickster]

Up to you. Can be a deterrent or help when you get your bike nicked and needs identified. Just mark frame by bottom bracket and forget the sticker if it bothers

 

[PaulSecteur]

I never got my Raliegh Burner Back after it has the postcode stamped into it.

To the thief: I hope you did a mis-judged endo and face planted your teeth out.

 

[Mr Haematocrit]

Buy a bike tracker and data tag.

Simples

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

What I've seen more often when the police do a spot of community work is for them to mark a number on the frame (down tube close to the bottom bracket so not an eyesore) and then register it on a site. I did find a bike a few months ago that had been removed by a thief who hadn't been able to get the second lock off it so he abandoned it. The bike had been registered with Bike Register and I managed to get it back to its owner. I've no idea how often bikes make their way back to the owner this way but I now know that it can happen.

 

[Globalti]

You'd have to be very lucky. I found a very nice bike stolen and abandoned in a stream and when I took it to the Police, the clerk yawned and said: "Oh yeah..... another bike... we'll chuck it on the heap out in the shed with all the other bikes." She then laboriously filled in a report in a big old ledger, fetched a ruler and tore off a bit of the report, which she handed to me. At that point I realised there was no chance of the bike ever being reunited with its owner.

 

[Johnmac474]

Whatever you use will give the police a chance of identifying recovered bikes. I am a former police officer and did a spell of stolen cycles officer. The police recover around 50% of stolen bikes but only identify around 1-3% because of the poor descriptions.
Have you thought about fitting an immobitag, an RFID chip that goes in the frame and is registered on www.immobilise.com. All the police forces support the register which has 33 million items of property registered including 1.5 million bikes. If the police check a bike on their system it automatically checks the immobilise database and gives them the registered owner. If you want more info them please get in touch

John Mac