Quote Originally Posted by kenyonchris View Post
There is a crimes database of serial numbers of stolen things....bikes included. If your bike is stolen and you have the serial number and it is included in the theft report, it will be crossmatched in the database. If it is recovered (ditched or seized), or entered by a reputable pawn shop, or a detective runs across a suspicious looking item in a pawn shop, or an attentive police officer has reasonable suspicion that a bike may be stolen, they can cross reference it and check.
Sadly very, very few people have the serial numbers of their stuff. Therefore, not much of it is recovered.
I'll bet with my experience of state government that this program is voluntary and it costs "someone" money to join it and if you live in a poorer state that your state does not participate and your stolen stuff is not on that registry.

Karen