Now that’s how you tackle moped thugs Met take note... cops up North don’t mess about!
WAITING at a junction for the lights to go green, these suspected moped bandits are about to run out of road.
For two plain- clothes traffic police on scrambler bikes have been tailing them and decide now is the time to pounce.
One cuts across them blocking their path, while the other blindsides two of them and makes sure they have nowhere to go. Realising they are police, one shocked rider falls off his bike and flees the scene at Greengate Roundabout in Manchester. The other two are apprehended and questioned. It has taken the law a long time to catch up with the moped thieves plaguing Britain’s cities, but this footage, filmed from a dashcam by a motorist behind the riders, has won widespread admiration.
Now the public are urging the Met to use similar tactics in the war on moped thugs in London which sees 430 motorbike or moped crimes a week. After seeing the footage, filmed last month, Douglas Dickson wrote: ‘ Awesome, love it. We need more of that in London. Can’t remember the last time I see a policeman on a bike locally!’
Tomas Mochalski added: ‘That’s what I call well-spent taxpayers’ money.’
The suspect who ran off was chased by a third uniformed traffic officer who arrived on his motorbike through the Moston area of the city.
It is not known whether the suspects were wanted criminals or arrested for driving offences. Greater Manchester Police launched a specialist policing team in July last year, which has seven unmarked scrambler bikes to patrol the whole city.
Down south, Met Police figures show crimes committed using mopeds, scooters and motorcycles soared by 50 per cent in the year to May, to 22,025. Some thieves claim to be earning £2,000 a day.
One of the most recent victims was comedian Michael McIntyre, who had his £15,000 Rolex watch torn from his wrist. McIntyre, 42, was waiting outside a school in north London when a gang of masked moped riders armed with hammers smashed the driver’s window of his Range Rover.