CYCLISTS will be able to get their bikes marked the 21st-century way in Bognor Regis next week.
Police officers are staging the largest cycle security operation the town has known.
The object of the local events for the Sussex-wide Operation Velo is to compile a database of cycles.
These will be entered on to a national database run by Bike Register which Sussex Police is about to begin using.
Sergeant Chris Pipkin, of Bognor police station, said: “The operation will mark bikes with an anti-tamper code which can be scanned by a smartphone or entered on to a website.
“It will tell us if the bike has been reported stolen by the owner.
“This means we will be able to check a bike at the side of the road and make sure it is not stolen, which we have never been able to do before.”
The first marking session will take place from 10am-2pm next Thursday in the London Road precinct. It will be followed at the same time and place the next day.
January 12 sees the operation switch to the pier from 1pm-4pm.
The final session will occur from 10am-2pm on January 13 back in the precinct.