What happened to cause this?

The growth of scooter-related crime has exploded by 1000% over the last three years in the UK – but it’s London that’s seen the highest spike in crime, with more than 19,000 separate offences recorded last year alone.

Police forces across the country have been previously criticised for failing to properly deal with offenders – particularly for not pursuing suspects if they weren’t wearing helmets. But that’s changing, with specially-trained Metropolitan Police officers now able to ram thieves, even when they’re not wearing helmets, riding dangerously or disguising themselves.

Of course, forces up and down the country have employed a range of other tactics to aid the fight against scooter and motorcycle crime, including the use of automatic tyre deflation devices and DNA tagging spray. And it seems the tactics are working – with a reduction of ‘moped crime’ in London by 44% between January and October 2017 and 2018 (from 19,455 to 12,419 offences).

Commander Amanda Pearson of Frontline Policing, said: “The Met is at the forefront of tackling moped and motorcycle crime and I am pleased to see that we have seen a reduction in offences. However, we are not complacent and we will continue to work tirelessly across London to maintain this downward trend.

“Operation Venice can call on all manner of tactics from an experienced investigation team to police helicopters to tackle and arrest offenders. There is a perception that if you remove your helmet or fail to stop for police when requested to do so we will not take any further course of action.

“This is untrue. The public quite rightly expects us to intervene to keep London safe. Our highly trained police drivers weigh up the risks and decide upon the most appropriate tactics in those circumstances.”

Pearson added: “Our message is clear: we can, we will and we do target those involved in moped and motorcycle crime at every opportunity.”