Met Police increases Sur-Ron motorcycle fleet to fight e-bike offenders in London

The Metropolitan Police is stepping up its efforts to fight against gangs committing crimes using e-bikes and mopeds, by significantly expanding its fleet of Sur-Ron motorcycles. 

The force has quintupled its fleet of Sur-Ron electric motorcycles from five to 25. This is a major increase by the Met as it looks to catch offenders with more regularity and efficiency. 

Increasing the number of officers using these electric motorcycles to catch offenders should naturally help reduce crime, while the lightweight bikes will also allow officers to cut through traffic, navigate narrow streets and even tackle staircases, in some situations.

This will allow them to catch criminals in places that are inaccessible to conventional police motorcycles, and especially police cars.

By having more officers on two-wheels, the Met says that it will particularly help against mobile phone theft. Should this type of crime happen, officers can now react even quicker and intervene moments after a snatch offence takes place. 

The force has already credited the presence of its Sur-Ron bikes with reducing phone theft by more than 13,000 offences across London in the last year.

Louise Puddefoot, Deputy Assistant Commissioner for Frontline Policing, said this about the growing fleet:

“Expanding our Sur-Ron fleet gives officers another powerful tool to stay one step ahead of criminals. These bikes allow officers to move quickly through busy streets, access areas traditional vehicles cannot reach, respond faster to crime and arrest more suspects.

“Criminals are using high-powered, often illegally modified e-bikes to commit offences such as phone theft and robbery. By expanding this capability, we have listened to our officers, giving them the tools they need to disrupt criminality and keep Londoners safe.

“Londoners are already seeing the results of our relentless focus on tackling street crime, with neighbourhood crime down 14 per cent over the past year and 13,000 fewer phone thefts.”

Since August 17, the Met has already responded successfully to a pair of criminal offences in London. In the first instance, officers responded to reports of an illegally ridden, uninsured e-bike. The rider attempted to flee but was matched for pace by the officers, before the offender eventually lost control and was detained. 

Sarah Jones MP, Minister for Policing and Crime, also added:

“People should be able to enjoy everything London has to offer without any concern of becoming a victim of crime.

“By rolling out these new Sur-Ron bikes, officers can now reach any incidents more quickly, target offenders more effectively and crack down on crime in some of the busiest parts of the capital.

“The Government is committed to ensuring police forces across the country are equipped to effectively tackle crime and keep communities safe. As part of our mission to halve knife crime, the Knife Crime Concentration Fund is supporting police to take the right action in the right places. We are already seeing progress, with knife crime down by 11% since the start of this Government. The rollout of these bikes is a great example of that targeted approach in action.”

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