ROBSTOWN, Texas — The Robstown Police Department is starting a initiative to reunite residents with their stolen bicycles.
This program won't only help the community recover their stolen items but will also reduce the number of bikes being stored at the police department.
Since taking over Robstown Police Department, Chie Mike Tamez said he noticed there were many bikes picked up by officers. He decided to change the way the department collected and processed evidence such as bicycles.
"I'm hoping that instead of having to auction all of these bikes -- I'm sure there will be a few that will go -- but we can at least give these folks an opportunity to see if we recovered any of their stolen bikes," Tamez said. "Even if it might be a few years old but still it's important and it's our responsibility to see if we can get this done."
He hopes the initiative will give locals the opportunity to recover their bikes if they were stolen or missing.
"You know I just thought there will be a lot more value if we at least made an attempt to reunify the owner of the stolen bike or missing bike with one of the bikes we recovered," Tamez said.
RPD's Property and Evidence Control Manager Steve Boxwell is in charge of logging items for the department. At this moment, he said there are over 30 bikes in the storage room.
"When a bike comes in the officer will tag the bike and log it our property and evidence log," Boxwell said. "And then when I receive it, I'll take photos of the bike and catalog it into our bicycle file and then I'll also update our records management system and show them that we are receiving it into our inventory. "
He said owners can call or come in to identify their bikes but they will need to provide proof that the bike is theirs. They have 90 days to claim their bicycle.
"If they have any kind of receipts or photos or some other way of providing me with some sort type of identifiers that that is indeed their bicycle," Boxwell said.
For anyone searching for their bike, you can call the police department at (361) 387-3531 and ask for evidence. Boxwell said they will post a QR code on their Facebook which locals can scan and see photos of bikes that are currently logged at RPD.