London police buy high-speed e-bikes using profits from crime
The London Metropolitan Police are using profits taken from crime to buy the same illegal high-speed e-bikes they are pursuing.
The Met announced on Thursday 27 August that it had increased the size of its own e-bike fleet from five to 25 vehicles, which have been deployed across Camden, Islington, Hackney, Tower Hamlets, Westminster, Kensington & Chelsea, and Hammersmith & Fulham.
In an ironic twist, the e-bikes used by Met officers are Sur-Rons – the very same type of electric bikes which are being used by criminals attempting to evade the police, and which are illegal to drive on London’s roads.
While the police are presumably operating their Sur-Rons under a legal framework in the capital, even the manufacturer of the e-bikes recognised the irony in a social media post earlier this year, saying: “If you can’t beat them join them!”.
The lightweight Sur-Ron Ultra Bees used by London police allow officers to cut through traffic and pursue criminals who would otherwise be able to evade conventional police motorcycles and cars.
They have proven specifically effective against phone snatchers, allowing officers to chase down and apprehend phone snatchers moments after the offence has been committed. In the last year, phone theft in the capital fell by more than 13,000 offences.
Funded through profits taken from crime
The Met said funding for buying the new Sur-Ron bikes came from profits taken from crime and reinvested into policing. The Home Office is also supporting the training of police e-bike riders in the West End.
E-bikes have become a significant problem on London’s streets, and the Met has seized more than 2,500 illegal e-bikes and e-scooters so far this year.
Many of these were presumably the same Sur-Rons the police are using themselves, and many were also modified with high-powered batteries or uninsured.
The Met said it would continue to invest in technology that helps officers prevent crime and respond more quickly to incidents, so there may be even more e-bikes joining the police fleet in future.
“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,” said Deputy Assistant Commissioner for Frontline Policing Louise Puddefoot.
“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% over the past year and 13,000 fewer phone thefts,” Puddefoot said.
