Salt Lake City police officers handled 1,406 reports for stolen and abandoned bikes last year — but they were only able to return 83 of those to their owners.
But officials hope recent changes to the city’s “cumbersome and antiquated” bike-registration process will encourage more residents to sign up and improve the city’s chances of returning lost property.
“Because of the lack of registration, it was very difficult to match a bike back to its owner,” said Salt Lake City Mayor Jackie Biskupski. “And so we wanted to streamline our process and make it more effective so if your bike is stolen and recovered, we can get it back to you.