Jump to:

1. For law enforcement
2. For colleges and universities
3. For civilians who find bikes

Users of multiple kinds can register a bike as 'found' on Bike Index. This comes in two forms:

1. Impounding bikes
2. Registering found bikes

 

1) Impounding bikes for law enforcement

 

 

Law enforcement and property rooms can more easily return bikes to their owners by listing their impounded bikes on Bike Index. With a public-facing impound sheet, law enforcement can share impounded bikes with their communities and return bikes to their owners instead of disposing of them.

Law enforcement staff can:

• Upload CSV files from property rooms with impounded bike information
• Record date and time of impounding
• Add specific impound ID headers to bikes to match existing numerical tag structures
• Add photos
• Create a public-facing list of impounded bikes and receive claims from citizens who have information to prove ownership of the bike
• Cross-reference Bike Index for existing registrations that might match impounded bikes
• Transfer bikes and their registrations to owners once ownership is proven

 

1) Impounding bikes at a college or university

 

 

No one knows better than universities that impounded bikes amass quickly, especially when there is a high turnover on a campus population. Instead of allowing bikes to languish away in an impound lot for months or even years, universities can leverage Bike Index's impounding tools to reunite bikes with their owners.

University staff can:

• Create parking notifications and follow-up messages for campus members when their bikes are in the wrong place or are about to move to an impound lot
• Tag bikes on campus and in impound with custom, university-specific tag numbers
• Keep track of where bikes are in regard to multiple impound locations
• Create bulk notifications and change status of bikes in bulk
• Keep a record of communications with users
• Change the statuses of bikes to return them to owners or remove them from Bike Index when donated or parsed
• Add photos
• Create listings for unregistered bikes
• Create a public-facing list of impounded bikes and receive claims from campus members who want to prove ownership
• Reunite impounded bikes with their owners and decrease volume of bikes in impound locations

 

1) Registering a bike you've found

 

 

Now any Bike Index user can register a bike that they've found. Click the gears in the top right corner of the home page when you are logged in, and you'll see the option to Add an abandoned bike you found.

Why do this? If the owner of the bike comes across your found bike listing, they can get in touch with you to claim it. This is a great option if you have found a bike abandoned somewhere, if you see a bike that's been chained to a random tree in the woods for months (it happens), or if you recover a stolen bike and it is not already listed on Bike Index.

You can also try registering a found bike here 👇

 

Are you a member of a university of law enforcement department interested in trying Bike Index's impounding features? Create your free organization account on Bike Index and we'll enable a free trial