POLICE in York have pledged to hand out free electronic tagging devices to more cyclists after the scheme showed an immediate drop in the city's high rate of cycle crime.

Last week, as part of the joint Safer York Partnership and North Yorkshire Police initiative, four officers fitted 310 bikes with the tags, which are impossible to remove, at a mobile police unit in Parliament Street.

Project manager Sergeant Rick Ball said initial crime figures had showed an immediate drop in the number of cycle thefts. He said 83 bikes had been stolen so far this month, a drop of 10 per cent compared with the same time last year.

There were 1,464 bikes stolen in the city between April, 2005, and March, 2006 - down from 1,852 the previous year.

But York still has one of the highest bike theft rates in the country.

The next bike tagging event will be held at York Hospital, which has regularly been targeted by bike thieves in the past, on April 24, from 10am to 4pm, and will be sponsored by the NHS trust.

Police have also been given £5,000 by York St John's University College to provide 1,000 tags for bikes belonging to staff and students. Officers will be at the campus on May 9 and 10.

Sgt Ball, pictured, said: "Each tag has a unique identity code which is held on a database along with the owner's contact details and a description of the bike.

"When a cycle is recovered by the police it will be routinely scanned to locate the tag, which in turn will reveal the whereabouts of the rightful owner."

It is hoped the tags will also deter thieves.

Police now plan to carry out stop and check cyclists in the city to catch bike thieves red-handed.

Updated: 10:23 Saturday, April 22, 2006