About BikeWatch
A partnership between the public and Gloucestershire Constabulary to reduce bicycle theft.
What is BikeWatch?
BikeWatch is a web-based system developed in partnership with Gloucestershire Constabulary. Its purpose is to help reduce bicycle theft across the county by enabling members of the public to register their bicycles, report theft online, and track police investigation progress — all without needing to visit a police station.
Who Can Use BikeWatch?
👥
Members of the Public
- Register a free account
- Add one or more bicycles with photos
- Report a registered bike stolen
- Track investigation progress in real time
👮
Police Officers
- Provided login credentials by admin
- View and filter all theft reports
- Update case investigation status
- Add officer notes visible to the public
Security & Privacy
BikeWatch takes the security of your personal data seriously. Key measures include:
- Passwords are hashed using bcrypt — they are never stored in plain text.
- All database queries use prepared statements to prevent SQL injection.
- Sessions use HttpOnly, Secure, SameSite=Strict cookies.
- A CSRF token is included on every form to prevent cross-site request forgery.
- Uploaded images are validated by MIME type and stored with randomised filenames.
- Brute-force protection locks accounts after 5 failed login attempts.
- All sensitive actions are recorded in an audit log.