Supt Mark Payne: ‘Lock up your moped’

POLICE have said the public must take a leading role in tackling the rise in moped crime as new figures reveal that an average of nine mobile phones are snatched in Islington every day.

Senior officers in charge of leading the fightback against “moped-enabled snatches” have said they cannot “arrest our way out of it”. Instead, they have called on people to take better care of their phones and mopeds.

Scotland Yard released new figures yesterday (Thursday) that show 489 “powered two-wheelers” – including motorbikes and mopeds – were stolen in Islington in the past 12 months and were used to commit 2,417 other offences, the majority of which were mobile phone snatches.

There were a total of 3,508 snatches, a figure which includes offences committed while riding a push bike, in the borough in the 12 months leading up to April – the equivalent of nine a day and a rise of 33 per cent on the previous year.

Speaking at Islington Police Station in Tolpuddle Street, Superintendent Mark Payne said that the key to tackling the crime surge was stopping thieves getting their hands on mopeds.

He said that only 10 per cent of moped owners used locks to secure wheels, adding: “This is as easy to steal as a push bike and yet nobody puts a lock on it. If you want to keep it, you need to lock it up.”

He added: “They are fast, capable machines and are difficult for us to deal with. What we have got to do is take these bikes away from the criminals and put them back on their feet like they used to be.”

He said thieves can break inbuilt handlebar locks within 30 seconds by sharply twisting from side to side, and then push the bike away.

“What we have to do is make them a lot harder to steal,” he said. “The first step is getting people to understand that when you park this up and take the key out of it, you are not safe. That bike can be stolen very quickly.”

Operation Attrition – launched in May 2015 to tackle the rise in the crime in Camden and Islington – made 700 arrests in the past 12 months.

High-speed pursuits of mopeds have proved a controversial issue after several accidents. Police ability to chase suspects is limited by the inherent risk to members of the public, the suspects and themselves.

Supt Payne said: “The Met police pursues all criminals. Just because we are not riding around in fast cars behind them doesn’t mean we are not pursuing the criminal. We use DNA. If we have got their face we do facial recognition.

“It may well be that we break off a pursuit because we think we have the evidence. We know who you are and there’s no point taking that pursuit any further today. We’ll go and bang on your door at 2am tomorrow when we know we can get you in bed.”

Meanwhile, Detective Chief Inspector Steve Heatley said members of the public can help by dialling 999 to report suspicious behaviour and even photographing suspects, which has recently led to several arrests.

He said people should take more care while using their phones on the street, adding: “Use your hands-free, make sure you have got all your security features on the phone switched on, don’t text while walking, and step back from the kerb a little bit when using your phone.”

Each phone can net £100 for thieves. They are often broken down for parts or shipped out of the country whole.