KETTERING — A local police department is ensuring residents keep their bikes after nearly a dozen bikes were stolen in the community.
News Center 7’s Mason Fletcher was in southern Montgomery County Wednesday, talking to police about what they’re doing to help.
Mark Lathrop said, “To have it registered with the Kettering Police Department. I just thought it was a good idea to do.”
Lathrop was the first biker to ride up to the police department registration event. He rides his bike around his neighborhood and has clocked nearly 4,000 miles in just a few years.
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“I do a lot of riding my bike. I don’t normally leave it out of my sight,” Lathrop said.
Which is a good thing. Kettering Police said they have seen 10 bike thefts since April, and the number keeps getting higher.
Cynthia James with Kettering Police said, “If your garage is open, someone will walk right up and take the bike.”
The department said people will ride them down the street and dump them in the grass whenever they’re done with them.
“Someone just dropped a bike off in my yard. And I did call the Kettering Police Department. They came and picked it up, and hopefully the owner was found,” Lathrop said.
However, the police department said making sure the bike belongs to the claimed owner can be difficult. One officer said they can have up to 100 bikes in their warehouse at once, all waiting to be returned to their owner.
The registration event on Wednesday works to fix that issue.
“They give us all the bike information, the serial number, the key part of that, they get the bike registration sticker to put on the bike,” James said.
Now, they can tell exactly which bike belongs to each resident in the event the bike gets stolen.
“I think it’s a great idea for the community and the bike riders,” Lathrop said.
Police told News Center 7 they’ve always offered the program it but haven’t promoted it like they did for today’s event.
They recommend residents keep their garage closed and get a bike lock to prevent someone from taking it.
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