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Apart from those snatches (which seem to have branched out into moped riders bursting into cafés to snatch the laptops of people working there), there have also been a lot of reports about hammer-wielding gangs smashing shop windows, threatening people with hammers (I haven't seen anything recently about them actually using the hammers on people, but see the report below on café windows being smashed), and, as exemplified by the above report, using mopeds as getaway vehicles for just about everything.
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Here's one story about a raid that was foiled (there have been a few others):
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And here's one that was successful:
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And this, which must have been a terrifying experience:
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All sorts of smash+grab stuff involving mopeds.
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One thing I have been thinking about recently was that as the police have got some new bikes to maybe chase them will the use of mopeds/scooters by criminals be upped to higher power motorbikes. With that the potential for crashes goes up rapidly.
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I see them many a time whilst working.
Even one day out in Kensington, saw this bike flying back and forth, then all of a sudden they had a bag.
Utter, utter pricks.
Spoke to copper one day about it, he said they're helpless, they aren't allowed to chase them apparently, as they might get injured. -
Yeah, I find it pretty lame that the police aren't allowed to chase someone on a moped who's armed with a hammer or some corrosive substance because they might fall of and hurt themselves.
Obviously now every single kid with a moped (who isn't necessarily some violent thief) knows this so they essentially have free licence to drive like nobs. Which must be a lot of fun but lacks a little forethought.
They really need to bring back EMA...
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My understanding is that the police are allowed to chase as long as the rider and passenger are wearing a helmet. Kids know this and throw their helmets on the ground to get away.
@jv What makes you think that these children are licensed?
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Because a stinger doesn't often end in the death of the driver. Coming off a motorbike, not often wearing a helmet, often does.
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On the news the other night they said they were going to be using stingers for moped riders, hence my question about using stinger vs. no chase seeming at odds if they weren't trying to injure the rider.
http://islingtontribune.com/article/police-get-ready-to-use-spike-stingers-against-moped-gangs
If they're going to crash the pricks with a stinger why not chase them?
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i presumed the injuries they are worried are worried about are to members of the public, rather than the moped riders. Stingers are used in the west mids:
https://twitter.com/Trafficwmp/status/928899106336133120 -
Kids know this and throw their helmets on the ground to get away.
I was involved in an on-foot chase with a couple of 'yoof' who attempted to rob an elderly man, throwing him to the ground in the struggle.
One of them threw his helmet at me, revealing a fat ginger haired head. Pretty identifiable, and locals were able to immediately say which school he went to. The authorities got him.
They weren't the sharpest tools.
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If we're using steel cables, are we allowed to hook them up to street lights' power supply? Extra LOLs!
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Bloody love those films (even the second one, a little).
Clockwise
RangerRussell
stedlocks
Sumo
Well_is_it
hippy
jv
Stonehedge
n3il
oblivious
Tijs
finger_jockey
Harry -
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About
Moped-enabled crime
Posted by
@Oliver Schick
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/moment-hammerwielding-moped-gang-scuppered-by-hero-lorry-driver-in-central-london-a3688951.html
I've been interested in this for a few years since in the mid-noughties there was a crime spree in Islington along a busy cycle route in which riders (well, more precisely, pillions) using stolen mopeds would try to snatch pedal cyclists' pannier bags (and often succeeded). They rode up alongside the cyclist and tore at panniers. These were often Ortlieb panniers that easily sheared off, although in at least one case I can remember they didn't and the cyclist was brought down. The moped riders then sped off. As many office workers carried laptops in their panniers the thieves often got that. I used to wonder what they might do with all the (in themselves quite valuable) Ortliebs.
It took the police a long time to catch the thieves, even though they knew where their lock-up was, but they eventually did it and it went quiet again. I think they had trouble getting the pursuit authorised and had to get special off-road motorbikes because of all the traffic calming in the area.
The next thing I remember is when the phone snatching started, 2008 in the area I worked in at the time. Some colleagues had theirs snatched, and I think that was even before 'smart'phones. That seems to have continued to the present day and there were a lot of stories about it in the papers a while ago, perhaps fewer now that potential victims have got wise to it.
Obviously, it's been all over the press but I thought a thread about it might not be amiss.