Burbank Police Department held a Bike Registration event on Saturday, January 11, next to the Chandler Bike Path at N. Keystone Street. Over 300 bicycles were registered at the event and even more people stopped by to learn about the service. Burbank Police often find bikes throughout the city but the challenge is returning them to their rightful owners.
“This is the first time we’ve ever done an event like this,” said Officer Joshua Kendrick of the Burbank Police Department. “There’s been a significant increase in bike thefts recently. With this record of serial numbers, we increase our chances of reuniting found bicycles with their owners.”
Kendrick acknowledged the large turnout of volunteers from the BPD Cadet and Explorer programs, which helped keep the free bike registration to an average of five minutes per bike. Kendrick came up with the Bicycle Registration event idea, and with the support of Sgt. Darin Ryburn, was able to hold the six-hour-long event and draw hundreds from the community. He cited the location along the Chandler Bike Path as ideal to reach more people who hadn’t heard of the event.
Social media also helped spread the word amongst the community about the event and Kendrick commented, “We had such a great turnout. We didn’t know how successful it would be. Our plan is to hold this as a recurring event every six months, so we plan to have the next one in June or July.”
People of all ages and walks of life turned up. A local Boy Scout Troop made the registration and a bike ride part of their outing for the day. People were even waiting at the beginning of the event while the police were setting up, added Kendrick, with a constant stream of people throughout the day.
