How to register your bike with the NYPD

Register your bike for free at your local NYPD precinct. You'll need your bike's serial number. Registration won't prevent theft, but it significantly improves the chances of getting your bike back if it's recovered.

Why register?

When police recover a stolen bike, they run the serial number. If it's registered, they can contact you. Without registration, recovered bikes sit unclaimed or get auctioned off. For a cargo e-bike worth $2,000–$10,000, a free registration is well worth the call. It also helps with insurance claims.

Step 1: Find your serial number

On most cargo bikes it's stamped on the underside of the bottom bracket shell — where the pedal cranks attach. Flip the bike or crouch down and look underneath. Usually 6–10 characters. On Urban Arrow and Tern bikes it may also appear on a sticker near the head tube.

Do this now, before you need it — Photograph the serial number and save it somewhere accessible. If your bike is ever stolen, you'll want this instantly.

Step 2: Contact your local precinct's Crime Prevention Officer

NYPD runs a free Bicycle Registration Program through each precinct's Crime Prevention Officer. Call ahead to set it up — they'll engrave a serial number onto the bike and affix a decal marking it as registered with NYPD. If a thief removes the decal, it leaves behind the word "VOID," which is itself a red flag to police.

Find your precinct →

Step 3: Document your bike

1 Photograph the whole bike from both sides
2 Photograph any identifying features — scratches, stickers, accessories
3 Save the serial number somewhere accessible
4 Keep your purchase receipt or invoice

If your bike is stolen

File a police report immediately. Also post to local Facebook groups, Nextdoor, Bike Index, and Project 529 — both are free stolen bike registries with active communities. Check Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace too — stolen bikes often turn up for sale within days.

Buying a cargo bike in Brooklyn?

We'll walk you through everything — registration, locking, insurance — when you come in for a test ride.