Date: March 9, 2021
Victoria, BC – VicPD’s approach to bike registration is transitioning. We are adopting the use of Project 529 Garage, an app that allows bike owners to register their bikes themselves, and permit owners to keep their bike information up-to-date.
Project 529 Garage’s app is already used by police departments across Vancouver Island, the Lower Mainland and elsewhere. With the ability for bicycle owners to upload photos of their bikes, notify other users if their bike is stolen through alerts and the ability to register using just an email, Project 529 has seen success in many jurisdictions. Many in Victoria and Esquimalt have already registered their bikes through Project 529 and VicPD officers will have access to the app on their issued devices to query found bicycles. For more information on Project 529, please visit https://project529.com/garage.
The transition to Project 529 is a “win-win” for the community and the police.
Maintaining and supporting VicPD’s bike registry required resources from volunteer Reserve Constables and VicPD Records staff, while new online services have emerged that offer bike owners new ways to protect their bikes. By moving away from a VicPD-supported Bike Registry, this will allow the department to reinvest our resources into other high-demand areas.
We have halted new registrations to the VicPD Bike Registry and our volunteer Reserve Constables have been contacting those who have registered their bikes with us to let them know the registry is closing. Reserves have also reached out to local bicycle shops in Victoria and Esquimalt, who were valuable partners in the success of the VicPD Bike Registry to thank them for their partnership.
In keeping with B.C.’s Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, all information in the VicPD Bike Registry will be deleted by June 30th, 2021.
VicPD officers will continue to respond to and investigate bicycle thefts.
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