Members of the public have to work with the Police to stop cycle thieves.

If not insurance companies would be unable to lower theft insurance premiums -- which are now higher for motorcycles than for some cars, Colonial Insurance general manager Mr. William Madeiros said yesterday.

Last year close to 2,500 cycles were stolen, making it the worst year the Island had experienced.

It was also the worst year Colonial Insurance ever had because it insured "a lion's share'' of those cycles which ended up driving insurance premiums sky high.

Mr. Madeiros said the company almost gave up insuring cycles at one point because the situation was "uneconomical''.

He said rates would drop again if thefts dropped because when it cost between $400 and $600 to insure a car but between $600 and $800 to insure a cycle "something was wrong''.

Colonial was working with the Police to try and help reduce theft when it could have raised premiums and walked away when the rate of cycle theft began to rise, said Mr. Madeiros.

He stressed that as a Bermudian company, Colonial's involvement went beyond selling insurance which was why it wanted to get involved and now the situation was improving because it was actively solving the problem.

But members of the public could help Colonial lower the premiums they paid when they insured their cycles, he added.

Mr. Madeiros stressed that the community had to realise that the Police could not stop cycle theft by themselves. The public had to work with them to reduce theft.

He said the public should get their bikes U-Marked -- a policy which Colonial now provided as a free service -- and they must lock their cycles and when they saw something suspicious they should report it to the Police.

"I would love to see the public making more use of the Police Force,'' he said.

While cycle theft was still up, he said, the money Colonial was paying out to theft victims was down from last year so he believed other companies were taking a "hammering''.

He said the Police originally suggested U-Marking and it had been "unbelievably successful'' since its inception. As soon as U-Marking was announced by Colonial in October, 1994, theft figures began to drop.

It was a positive impact for a Bermudian company which suffered huge losses but now showed improvement, said Mr. Madeiros.

The original challenge of getting youths to adopt the practice was that although the U-Mark itself could not be seen, the sticker was not "hip''.

Colonial worked closely with Advantage Advertising to design U-Mark stickers which were more modern. Eventually they where sought after by kids who wanted the sticker but could only get it when their cycle was U-Marked.

Mr. Madeiros said once the U-Mark was in place Colonial hired its own person to do it and made it compulsory to have new cycles U-Marked or it would not insure them.

He explained that U-Marking deterred thieves from stealing cycles and made it far easier for Police to track stolen cycles. Police were reporting a large number of bikes which had been recovered intact because the parts were U-Marked and of no use to thieves.

He said Colonial would carry on with the initiative and would also go to schools with the Police to offer U-Marking sessions.

He said it was also looking into other deterrents such as electronic surveillance equipment and intended to work with distributors to bring in improved cycle locks and alarms for the future.

The surveillance equipment would also help Police prosecute offenders, added Mr. Madeiros.