: I don't know how smart they are on your side of the border, but I seriously
: doubt the police will be of any assistance if your kayak is stolen. I
: think most of the detective work would be up to you, and they might help
: prosecute the theif, if caught, if you provide enough convincing evidence
: (including the HIN). But it's not likely to get your boat returned to you
: by simply having the HIN.

: I once had my mountain bike confiscated for being "illegally
: parked" on the campus at my university by the campus cops. They were
: going to make me register the bike before handing it over to me. I had to
: point out that there was already a registration sticker on the bike that
: I'd registered through them 3 years prior, and they weren't bright enough
: to notice their own sticker!

: Shawn

You know that happened to me,too.
What's funny was that my bike was stolen from Davis (The bike city), found in the same city and registrated a few months ago in the very same police station.
They did not bother to check their own sticker but demanded me to get it registrated before they could release it. After I pointed the sticker out to them. They looked at it and claimed that the sticker had expired a few months ago -- the same month that I paid for the registration. They had mistaken the registration month as the expiration month! Duh.