Hundreds of Unclaimed Stolen Bikes Pack SFPD Warehouse

Imagine the sea of crates at the end of "Raiders of the Lost Ark" -- except with bikes.

"Hundreds" of unclaimed bicycles, once stolen but since recovered by the San Francisco Police Department, are "collecting dust" in an evidence warehouse -- with no way to connect them to their proper owners, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

There's at least 800 bikes there, according to police, who say that without a citywide identification system -- and with most bicycle owners not registering their rides -- there's little they can do to move the bikes out the door.

A city analysis thinks that upwards of 4,000 bikes are stolen per year -- but only 817 reports of bicycle thefts were received by police, the newspaper reported.

One-hundred-forty-two stolen bikes out of 864 recovered last year went to their rightful owners.