Calling for crackdown on bike theft

Gideon Amos, MP for Taunton and Wellington, has slammed recent information from the Home Office showing "disastrous" statistics on the solving of bike thefts.

According to the figures, Avon and Somerset Police solved just over ten per cent of cycle thefts last year. Nationally, almost two thirds of police forces in England & Wales had at least four in five (80%+) of cases going unsolved. Of 44 police forces, none had solved more than 55% of bike theft cases.

Gideon has echoed Liberal Democrat calls for a dedicated national unit - Operation Bike Bait - in the National Crime Agency which would carry out "bike bait" operations to tackle the ongoing theft epidemic.

The unit would work with local police forces to carry out targeted operations, planting bikes fitted with trackers in theft hotspots so officers can catch offenders and uncover wider criminal networks. It would also coordinate the collection and sharing of intelligence and best practice across forces, helping to build a national picture of bike theft and improve the policing response.

Gideon said: "Most people in Taunton and Wellington hate the idea that any theft like this has effectively been decriminalised.

"Lots of people, particularly young people in their first job, rely on their bike to get to work and to really important meet ups, they are completely stuck when it's stolen and feel rightly angry that action frequently isn't taken and justice rarely gets done.

"Our police officers do a great job, but they need support and resources if they're going to start taking more action on bike theft.

"Lib Dems on Taunton Town Council have put two Street Marshals on the beat in our town centre and we've now got ten extra police officers in Taunton and West Somerset to deter this kind of crime. But with the increasing cost of living, people can't afford to replace stolen personal property and so 'Bike Bait' is an operation whose time is now."