How drones are helping police tackle ‘scourge’ of illegal e-bike riders

Nicholas Thomas, local democracy reporter

The pioneering use of drones to track and catch nuisance or illegal e-bike riders in Newport could become a police tactic elsewhere in the UK.

A senior Gwent Police officer told city councillors drone surveillance is safer than pursuits, and has been deployed “to really good effect”.

Superintendent Jason White said his officers hear “time and time again” about the use of more powerful electric bikes – which are technically classed as mopeds or motorbikes if they don’t have pedals, are more powerful than 250 watts, or can travel at more than 15.5mph.

A drone operation in early March tracked a group of bikers through the Alway and Ringland neighbourhoods, acting as an “eye-in-the-sky” to help officers find where a bike was being kept.

Gwent Police then seized the bike because it had been ridden without insurance, the force said.

Supt White said drone tracking could prove a less risky option than a vehicle pursuit.

“We have the conversation around deploying tactics around vehicles and pursuits, and the risk that poses then to other members of the public, and indeed the people on the [bikes],” he explained.

“Deploying a drone is a very simple tactic, and we still get the same end result of seizure and then bringing people to justice, but it’s just a far safer way of getting to the end game.

“What we’ve seen over the last two to three weeks is other neighbourhood teams within the force deploying the same tactic. I’m looking to invest more in the use of drones as well. We’ve also got other forces from around the UK actually coming to us, around what tactics we deploy.”

As well as some users riding antisocially or without a licence, the bikes are often linked to other types of crime, councillors heard.

Scourge

“There’s a real focus around the scourge that these off-road bikes are causing in our communities, which is slightly different in Newport, because in Blaenau Gwent and Caerphilly they tend to be very much off-road and causing damage to the environment,” Supt White said. “As we all know in Newport, they are used as a different tactic down here – a way of conveying drugs from one place to another.”

Gwent Police’s crackdown on illegal e-bike riding is centred on Operation Harley, which councillors heard has so far resulted in nearly 100 vehicles being seized and taken off the roads.

Supt White suggested the force could start posting footage of illegal bikes being crushed, as a further deterrent to offenders, but said March had been a “phenomenal month” for the operation.