COURTENAY, B.C- Police can’t determine if any of the bicycles at a home in east-end Courtenay have been stolen.
According to Constable Monika Terragni, the spokesperson for the Comox Valley RCMP, officers executed a search warrant at a home on Panorama Crescent, following a shooting nearby last weekend.
The home was placed up for sale on Wednesday, and while discussing the move, realtor Marie McCooey indicated a large number of bicycles were still present on the property.
The online notice for the sale also stated that the current tenants were “borderline hoarders”.
“There’s a lot of furniture, there’s a lot of personal belongings, there’s about 200 bicycles out in the backyard, because somebody collected bicycles or fixed them or sold them, I don’t know,” said McCooey.
“That kind of stuff.”
Terragni said that officers examined the bicycles during the search, but were not able to identify any as stolen.
“It’s important to remember to record the serial number on your bicycle,” said Terragni.
“We are often finding discarded bicycles and have no way of returning them to their owners without a serial number or any other way to identify the owner.”
Terragni stated that the local detachment has partnered with an online registration service called 529 Garage, which provides a way to register, report, and recover stolen bikes across North America.
“Anyone can sign up to the service either online or with a mobile application,” said Terragni.
“They can upload as much information about their bike as they want, including the serial number, make, model, colour and even photos. Owners can also protect their bike with a 529 Shield, a tamper-proof sticker with a unique seven-digit code they can enter in the system. If a thief sees a bicycle with a 529 sticker, they’re going to know the bicycle has been registered and the serial number has been recorded by the owner.”
529 Garage can be found at this link.
