Muggings by men on scooters in SW18, SW11 and SW12 Post Reply

[Jen66]

A 600% increase in moped crime and yet the police claim it is not out of control?

The criminals know they can rob people with impunity as the police won't give chase.

If you were a criminal why WOULDN'T you use this method? Much quicker than breaking into someone's home or car and likely to reap better results. Win win for them.

[Denwand]

Exactly!

I thought I would recount what happened to my male friend ( for I was there and still kick myself for not seeing this coming!)

Sitting at a pavement table on a warm mid-week afternoon last summer.

I saw two mopeds approach us and slow as if to park up and come into the cafe as they were both looking in our direction. I tend to notice scooters in traffic now since my husband's was stolen 18 months ago and I have a (vain) hope I might spot it one day.

First warning sign that "pinged" my "this might be a couple of villains" radar...both were wearing thin lycra type balaclavas under their full-face helmets leaving only their eyes visible...despite the warm weather

Second warning sign - they rode on but stopped 20 meters on to talk whilst looking back at the cafe.

Finally they did a u-turn and then crossed the road - again as if to stop at the cafe - within seconds one had bumped onto the pavement and stopped by our table and grabbed the laptop from the table and was off.... leaving all of us shouting "Oi" or somesuch - as if that would have stopped them.

By the time my friend was on his feet they had joined the traffic and were off...about a minute later we flagged down a Police van who radioed their description but was honest to say that they were miles away by now and they would probably never be caught and the moped/scooters were probably on false plates anyway.

You can see why I am extra-wary now!

[atbattersea]

The police aren't really getting a handle on this problem. It's fair enough I think, that they cannot really catch people in the act - especially given the fact that a getaway is so quick. But they really are not stopping the problem at source - which is stolen scooters and motor bikes.

I have reported literally dozens of stolen scooters parked/dumped on the streets. In the majority of cases, especially recently, these bikes are gone before the police turn up - or are just left there for days and days. If the police don't take the bikes away immediately, or treat the parked/dumped bikes as an emergency, then the criminals will just come back to the bikes and use them for more crime.

The police should attend immediately, and if they are not able to take the bike away they should immobilise it (ie with a wheel clamp or disc lock - even a cheapish padlock through the disc would stop it going anywhere.

The general way to spot a stolen bike is damage around the front fairing, damage to the steering lock, wires hanging out around the steering lock/handlebars/fairing, or the bike left without the steering lock engaged (if you can move the handlebars side to side the steering lock is not engaged). Less often the number plate is missing. Please look out for stolen bikes and report them on 101. Like I say, I have reported dozens, and I've only had one false positive (in that case the bike had been stolen and dumped, but had been recovered by the owner and had not yet been repaired).

[Denwand]

But they really are not stopping the problem at source - which is stolen scooters and motor bikes.

Totally agree atbattersea.

When my husband's scooter was stolen I had the feeling that two-wheel vehicle theft was given a low priority by the Met. - a similar priority to someone stealing a car radio perhaps.

I have since heard of other stories that have confirmed this.

Well I am not in the police force and I know they have other priorities but the chickens are coming home to roost with plenty of villains learning that they are unlikely to get caught and that they can rely on easy (stolen) transport for their deeds with a high probability of escaping subsequent crimes as well.

We have a friend who uses a desirable Ducati to commute and do odd trips to town
but feels so restricted now that motorcycle thieves can roam the capital using cutting tools that can break the strongest chain that he doesn't want to use his bike for the fear of never seeing it again.

Some years ago we lived in Fulham and my husband used to park a succession of valuable motorcycles outside our house with only a cheap bicycle "U Lock" for protection - they were never touched.

Sadly you couldn't do that now

[papinian]

One of the reasons that the police aren't interested is that not a single policeman working in the Wandsworth Met actually lives in Wandsworth. The majority don't even live in London.

[atbattersea]

One of the reasons that the police aren't interested is that not a single policeman working in the Wandsworth Met actually lives in Wandsworth. The majority don't even live in London.

Please substantiate this claim.

[papinian]

atbattersea: The statistics are in a report that Sian Berry, Green Party Member of the London Assembly, published in the summer. I assume that you can use google.

The Met's "commuter cops" has become a big issue. There are media stories on it every few months, e.g. this one from the Telegraph in August:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/08 ... -as-far-a/

It's only here on "naice" nappyvalleynet that people prefer to bemoan the level of crime to which their families are subjected rather than looking at why the Met refuses to do the job we pay (through the nose) for them to do.

[BeeCee]

Papinian: atbattersea politely asked you to substantiate your claim. You provided a partial response padded out with insults. If you are going to claim that "one of the reasons that the police aren't interested is that not a single policeman working in Wandsworth Met actually lives in Wandsworth" then you should be able to substantiate the entire claim, without your snooty "assumption" that atbattersea (or any other NVN reader) can use google (we can, thank you- we simply choose to spend our time doing better things). So, please substantiate your claim that they aren't interested because they don't live in the areas in which they work.

The article linked to your post doesn't say that the police are not interested in doing their job because they don't live in the areas in which they work. By your logic, a doctor working at St Georges but living outside of Tooting is not interested in helping the sick or injured because he doesn't live in the area in which he works.

You have criticised the "naice" NVN users who have posted their opinions or concerns about scooter crime on this forum (precisely what these forums are for). You "bemoan" the "commuter cops" policing Wansdworth on this forum and on others, but what do you actually do? Spend your day on Google? Slow clap for you, armchair warrior.

[AbbevilleMummy]

Papinian, afraid that your statement is incorrect re no Wandsworth officers actually live in Wandsworth. Also, the majority do live in London.

I used Google to find the Sian Berry report you referred to....

https://www.london.gov.uk/sites/default ... un2016.pdf

[papinian]

BeeCee: Is there a point to your post or did you just want to vent? Clearly, you have more time on your hands than I do when you have time to post such a lengthy screed. Unlike you I didn't insult anyone in my post. As regards your cheap sneer about armchair warriors, what do you want me to do, start a viligante group?!?

As regards the substantive issue, the Metropolitan Police Commission and the Deputy Mayor for Policing have both said that the percentage of members of the Met living outside of London is too high and that it is damaging policing in London. I value their opinions over yours. Policing and hospital medicine are so different from each other that I can't take seriously your attempt to make a comparison between them.

AbbevilleMummy: Thanks for finding and posting a link to the report. For the benefit of everyone the report says that:
- There are 16 members of the Met who are based in Wandsworth and also live in Wandsworth.
- 41% of members of the Met based in Wandsworth live outside of London.

However, those numbers refer to ALL members of the Met based in Wandsworth, including specialist London-wide divisions that have their offices in Wandsworth but have no particular role in policing in Wandsworth, e.g. the Dog Support Unit at Nine Elms. The Wandsworth Met is a subset of those numbers so the numbers/percentages are not identical. I can't find Wandsworth Met specific numbers in the report you linked to - perhaps they were in an interim draft.

[papinian]

This is a link to an FoI request from 2015 re number of Met officers in each borough:
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/ ... orough_2_2

It shows there are being 580 odd Met officers in Wandsworth. If 16 out of those 580 live in Wandsworth that is less than 3%. As I've said, if you look at the Wandsworth Met itself (which is what I referred to in my original post) and exclude specialist London-wide teams that are hqed in Wandsworth, the percentage of officers living in Wandsworth is pretty much zero. (To those who would rather nit pick and ignore the substantive point there is weekly movement of Met personnel around divisions, teams, etc. so I can't say that it is ALWAYS zero.)

[BeeCee]

Papinian: you have asked if there is a point to my post (did you try google? I bet you did!).

I asked you to substantiate your claim that the police aren't interested in solving crime in Wandsworth because they don't live in the borough. Your replies demonstrate a couple of things- you are not able to substantiate that claim and that you provided misinformation when you said that not a single policeman working in the Wandsworth Met actually lives in Wandsworth.

You may have found my post insulting (tbh that's a bonus!) but what is actually insulting is someone who posts opinions dressed up as fact, who spreads misinformation and then claims to be insulted when they are exposed.

[Mummykane]

back to the more important issue of these cowards mugging people??? Gosh what utter nonsense worrying about where police officers live? Is that really important??

[Mummykane]

back to the more important issue of these cowards mugging people??? Gosh what utter nonsense worrying about where police officers live? Is that really important??

[papinian]

the Metropolitan Police Commission and the Deputy Mayor for Policing have both said that the percentage of members of the Met living outside of London is too high and that it is damaging policing in London.

I suggest BeeCee and Mummykane take over responsibility for policing in London since clearly both believe that they know what is and isn't relevant to policing performance better than those currently in charge of it. If I had a pound for every time I witness the Dunning–Kruger effect on this website I would be a rich man... It's a pity because there are also a lot of sensible posters here who are good at identifying problems and sharing information and understand that merely griping about crime levels doesn't improve anything.