Police in Kamloops are asking people to register their bikes with the 529 Garage program to make it easier to recover them if they are stolen at any point.

Cpl. Jodi Shelkie says staff from the RCMP and the city will be helping people register their bikes at Aberdeen Mall this weekend between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., as part of Emergency Services Day.

“They’ll be giving out what are called shields, and the shield goes on your bike,” Shelkie says. “If it’s ever stolen, then when the police find it, they’ll see the shield and they’ll know to check on the app to find out who it belongs to.”

The shield usually costs $13, but it will be given out for free to people who either bring their bikes to the mall and register on Saturday, or if they start the registration process and bring their mobile device as proof.

Shelkie says with over 1,400 bikes registered in Kamloops, the program acts as a deterrent.

“There haven’t been a lot of bicycles stolen that were on the 529 Garage program and hence there has only been a handful of bicycles that have been recovered, but still we know from the bicycles that we have recovered that the program works, and it works well.”

Shield or no shield, people are still encouraged to lock their bikes, as Shelkie says roughly half of all bicycle riders will have a bike stolen at some point in their lifetime.