Ramming thieves on scooters runs into opposition

LONDON— The London police wanted to send a message to thieves on scooters and motorcycles in London: We will catch you however we can.

The Metropolitan Police published a compilation of videos last month showing officers ramming fleeing motorcycle and scooter riders in the hope that “offenders will think twice about their actions.”

But the release attracted criticism for a tactic seen as unusually aggressive, and a labour group for officers warned it might even be against the law.

The video, captured by dashboard cameras in police vehicles, shows riders bouncing off the hoods of the cars that hit them, swerving dangerously in traffic and falling to the pavement. Some fall while being chased, without being hit, and one runs into a hedge.

Since 2014, London has faced a surge in crime committed on two wheels — socalled ride-by theft in particular. Riders often take advantage of people distracted by their cellphones as they walk down busy sidewalks, snatching the devices from their hands, sometimes violently, and grabbing up to 30 an hour, according to the police.

Others snatch women’s purses or assault people as they ride by. They target crowded streets and escape through alleyways, sometimes even discarding their helmets in the belief that it will make the police more cau- tious in chasing them.

The police call the practice of deliberately running a vehicle into a fleeing motorbike “tactical contact,” and they say that only specially trained drivers do it. According to the Guardian, the tactic was deployed 63 times this year, and three incidents have been referred to the police watchdog for investigation.

Crime committed on motorcycles and scooters has dropped by nearly a third since last year, when the police introduced that tactic and others, like using helicopters to track suspects, a statement accompanying the videos said.

In a country where the police’s use of force is far less common than in the United States, authorities are hardening their practices, and running into some opposition.

“Police are not above the law,” Diane Abbott, a Labour member of Parliament whose portfolio includes policing, said on Twitter. “Knocking people off bikes is potentially very dangerous. It shouldn’t be legal for anyone.”

Amajor labour group for police officers said that tactical contact appeared to violate current law, and could get officers in trouble.

“Judged against the common standard, as police officers are, it is dangerous to drive a car deliberately at another road user,” Tim Rogers of the Police Federation of England and Wales told The Guardian. “The law clearly classifies this as dangerous driving, and officers could be prosecuted.”