IN AN attempt to reunite stolen property with their rightful owners, police in Trowbridge are asking people to register their items online.

Each week, officers recover a number of bikes, laptops, lawnmowers and other valuable property which they often fail to reunite with their owners as they cannot be clearly identified.

Now, police are asking residents to register their items on www.immobilise.com so they can attempt to trace them after they’ve been recovered.

Louis McCoy, Deputy Sector Head for Trowbridge and Warminster, said the problem is on the increase but he hopes that by making people aware of how easy it is to tag items, they will be able to reunite owners more often.

“We get lots of property recovered through investigations or handed in as found property to our enquiry offices,” he added.

“We always search out internal resources and databases but what we are looking to do is encourage people to sign up to immobilise.com which is very user friendly.

“By using this site, you can log and record all sort of items including electrical goods to bikes to lawnmowers. It is very straightforward and easy to use and if you use it, then we as a force can cross reference those sites in hope of reuniting it with the rightful owners.

“The benefit of doing this is that people get their property back and it helps us bring the offender to justice.”

In the last couple of weeks, police have recovered more than six bikes which they hold for a limited time.

Sgt McCoy added: “If we can’t prove it is stolen, we have to give it back to the person who we questioned as we have no proof of ownership.

“By being able to trace it back to an owner, it might bring about other witnesses or build up an idea of the scene but it is nice to find the rightful owners because in a lot of cases, items that are taken mean a lot to people.

“It is amazing how many people lose things and do not check with the police to see if it has been handed in because there are good people out there that will hand them in to us.”

For more information, visit www.immobilise.com.