Police are racing through city streets on powerful e-bikes to take down criminals using them to snatch watches, phones and bags from pedestrians.
Curbing these e-bikes, which are often used by thieves to snatch phones and watches, is a priority in the new policing plan launched by the Mayor of London and Metropolitan Police today (Tuesday).
The bikes can sometimes exceed 50mph as they whizz through central London, blindsiding unsuspecting pedestrians.
But they are now being pursued by Met officers on their own electric bikes to level the playing field.
BadVibes joined a ride out on Friday evening to see this initiative in action as scores of officers met at Cambridge Circus on Shaftesbury Avenue.
Police were stopping e-bikes suspected of having been ‘souped up’ – meaning they have been upgraded to go faster, surpassing the maximum speed of 15.5mph for an e-bike motor under UK law.
The modifications are easy to spot to the trained eye due to noticeably larger battery packs on the bike frames.
However, some don’t need to be modified as they are manufactured to be faster and sold as such in online market places.
The police stopped dozens of suspect bikes – many from delivery riders. Experts inspected the bikes to assess whether they are legal, and police confiscated 16 of them.
Those seized were loaded into a lorry and many will later be crushed. One person stopped was also detained on suspicion of a sexual offence during the operation.
Although the majority of those confronted were delivery riders, the police operation aimed to draw a ‘line in the sand’ and warn thieves using electric bikes that they are a Met police priority.
The Met now has a fleet of Surron e-bikes which can exceed a speed of 50mph. The nimble tool enables them to chase suspects down narrow roads unlike a regular police car in pursuit.
High speed SUVs in ‘interceptor teams’ are also used by the Met, with drivers trained to block and in extreme cases knock suspects off bikes.
The interceptors often lay in wait for the thieves and ambush them as they ride into the West End to plunder phones and luxury watches.
They keep in contact with the Met’s e-bike team, which can more easily weave through traffic in chase.
Met Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley told Metro before the operation that the menace of e bikes and the criminals who use them for robberies would a be high priority in the months ahead.
Police have seized 2,500 e-bikes in the past year, with the Met warning that a seemingly generous Christmas gift could end up on the scrap heap.
To make the point, illegal e-bikes seized by the Met have been crushed and put under the Christmas tree outside Scotland Yard. Police are warning that if you get an illegal bike as a gift, it could end up with a similar fate.
He said: ‘These e-bikes are dangerous, it’s anti-social, some are involved in crime, it’s not nice if you are walking along the pavement and one of these screams past you.
‘This issue comes up in every borough if you are buying e bikes at Christmas they better be legal (or you will lose them).’
The Commissioner said: ‘If you are a menace on one of these bikes, you will lose them.’
‘Crime in the West End is lower than this time last year,’ he added.
London crime figures from the Metropolitan Police
Between April 1 and October 29, officers achieved reductions in several types of crime in the West End compared to the same period last year:
- Vehicle offences – down by 13.7%
- Neighbourhood crime – down by 20.7%
- Knife crime – down by 22.3%
- Personal robbery – down by 14.1%
- Theft from a person – down by 23.7%
- Theft from vehicle – down by 19%
Across all of London, there have also been reductions between April 1 and October 29 compared to that period last year:
The Met has also solved 92% more shoplifting cases this year
Neighbourhood offences such as theft, robbery and vehicle crime were down by nearly 15%
Officers are arresting around 1,000 more criminals every month compared to last year
Facial recognition technology can be used for police pursuit too, picking out people’s faces at speed to find suspects and support police.
The Met has also gone after phone snatchers under Operation Baselife, where thieves and shoplifters blighting the capital have been targeted by foot patrols and specialist units.
BADVIBES joined a micro-beat team patrolling around Oxford Street in November to see their work warning passers-by to keep their phones protected from thieves grabbing their devices.
