The Metropolitan Police has released a new video to convey the associated crimes that occur as a result of scooter thefts as part of its campaign to petition owners to secure their vehicles.
Thefts of scooters have become a perennial issue, particularly in London, in recent years for more than simply that crime, with assailants often going on to commit other crimes such burglaries and mobile phone snatches.
As such, the Met Police is promoting its ‘Lock, Chain, Cover’ campaign with a new video that highlights the ‘Life of a Stolen Scooter’, showing it being thieved before it is used on a rampage of phone thefts and smash and grabs. Police eventually intervene and use tactical contact to arrest them.
Tactical contact is a controversial but increasingly effective method of apprehending criminals, whereby the police use their car to nudge scooters or motorcycles over and force the riders off, giving them a chance to catch and arrest them.
It comes as part of Operation Venice, a crackdown on two-wheel enabled crime with the help of the Motorcycle Industry Association
“Tactical contact is one of a range of tactics that Operation Venice officers have available to them,” Detective Chief Inspector Shaun White, the Met’s lead for Operation Venice said. “Officers undergo specialist training and are equipped to minimise risk and will always seek to bring pursuits to a safe conclusion.
“The tactical option of pursuit has many layers of continuous risk assessment. This includes the driver and riders themselves and the Met Control Command radio operator.
“The final decision to use tactical contact rests with the driver and will be initiated when considered proportionate and necessary and other tactics are neither practicable, nor achievable, within what are fast moving and dynamic incidents.”
The main aim of the video is for owners to take greater care of their scooters security by investing in strong locks and chains to anchor the machine, plus a cover that will deter would-be criminals from thinking they can make a quick getaway on it.
