Vancouver police database for combating bike theft expands across B.C.

A homegrown solution to combat bike thefts is expanding across B.C., thanks to funding from the provincial government.

Project 529, which began as a Vancouver Police Department project, will expand to allow police in all corners of B.C. to quickly and easily look up a stolen bike and find whether it is registered to an owner.

Project 529 is a free database and app that invites bike owners to register the details of their bike and their contact information, so that stolen bikes can be easily identified and reunited with owners. The database also allows buyers of second-hand bikes to look up the bike they're considering to ensure it's not stolen, while those unlucky enough to be a victim of bike theft can log on and mark their wheels as stolen.

The project launched in 2015 with support from VPD Chief Const. Adam Palmer and managed by now-retired constable Rob Brunt.

At the time, Vancouver's bike thefts were among the worst in the country, and had been growing 20 per cent a year.

According to Brunt, Vancouver police were receiving about nine reports a day of stolen bikes. Had that trend continued, Brunt estimates it could have been more than 6,000 bikes stolen last year, instead of the 1,049 thefts recorded in 2023.

He said that since 2015 the project has reunited around 1,250 stolen bikes with their owners — worth around $1 million.

Since the project's launch, nearly 200,000 bikes have been registered in B.C., and more than 3.1 million registered around the world. Bike thefts in the city of Vancouver alone have dropped about 70 per cent since the online database was created.

“What began as a Vancouver pilot project has now spread worldwide — and we're proud to be known as the first police force to make a meaningful impact on bike theft,” said Palmer.

The project has caught the attention of police forces overseas, with New Zealand recently signing on to provide the country's national police force with similar on-the-spot access to the database.

The database was designed by J Allard, a former Microsoft executive whose bike had been stolen. “We've changed the way police fight bike thefts around the world, providing a universal registration system that's accessible, searchable and shared by police forces,” said Allard.

“With B.C. making this pioneering move, it's not only great news for cyclists throughout the province, but it's another step toward getting the rest of Canada — and the world — on board to further close the ranks around bike thieves.”