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Brick Lane market targeted in bike theft operation

Concerted effort by police in stolen bike selling hotspot

A concerted effort by the police and Tower Hamlets Market in London has made a small dent in the intractable problem of bike theft in the capital.

Officers from the Metropolitan Police (MPS) Cycle Task Force unit successfully returned 12 stolen bicycles to their owners, made 12 arrests and gathered valuable intelligence on bike thieves, as part of an operation that targeted both cycle thefts and the sale of stolen bikes.

Operation Helium was a joint operation between the MPS Safer Transport Command (STC) funded by Transport for London (TfL), Tower Hamlets local police and Tower Hamlets Market Services, and was set up to tackle cycle theft and the sale of stolen bikes in Brick Lane Market. It began in late September 2010, and involved officers conducting intelligence-lead patrols after Brick Lane was identified as a hotspot for cycle-related offences.

Londoners have said that fear of theft can stop them from cycling all together. As part of the Mayor's Cycling Revolution, which is taking place across the capital, the Mayor and Transport for London have worked closely with the police to drive down theft and make cycling safer and more secure.

The Mayor also launched the MPS Cycle Task Force in June this year with 30 officers who specialise in cycle-related crime.
Every Sunday for the past four months officers gathered intelligence on suspected cycle theft-related cases, conducted high-visibility patrols and advised cyclists on issues such as security, safety and how to protectively mark their bikes.

Officers returned 12 bikes to their owners as they had been reported stolen to the police, with a total of 12 arrests made as a direct result of the operation. The Cycle Task Force worked with officers from the Whitechapel Town Centre team, who have also been working with Tower Hamlets Market Inspectors to tackle illegal street trading.

The Cycle Task Force officers were supported by the London Borough of Tower Hamlets CCTV Control Centre throughout the operation that enabled them to track suspects through the busy market area and lead officers to any suspected thefts of cycles.

During one of the Sunday operations, officers arrested 41 year old Leroy Spencer, who stole the wheels from a bike parked and locked to a rack on Bethnal Green Road. The owner returned to the bike to find them missing and approached officers, who were patrolling in Sclater Street as part of Operation Helium.

Details of the incident were circulated via the police radio and an officer who was working in the Tower Hamlets CCTV Control Centre spotted Spencer holding bicycle wheels in Brick Lane market. Officers located Spencer and the victim’s wheels nearby and arrested him. He appeared at court charged with theft and was jailed for two weeks after pleading guilty.

Since its launch in June this year, the MPS Cycle Task Force has already cycle security marked over 10,000 bikes and made over 100 arrests.

Kulveer Ranger, Mayor's transport advisor, said: "The Mayor is determined to make cycling safer and more accessible to all Londoners and we know that theft is a major worry for cyclists. This initiative is a key part of the Mayor's cycling revolution and it is good to see it producing real results and tackling those people continuing to prey on cyclists whilst, at the same time, reuniting owners with their much loved cycles."

Sergeant Titus Halliwell, Safer Transport Command Cycle Task Force, said: “I am so pleased to have been able to restore 12 bikes to their rightful owners as a result of Operation Helium, however this could have been many more. By reporting your bike if it is stolen, you are increasing your chances of having your bike returned to you if it is stolen.

“This operation highlights the benefits of our partnership work, not only with Tower Hamlets local police and council, but with all of the 32 London boroughs, allowing Londoners to enjoy cycling safely and free from the risk of theft or criminal damage.”
Steve Burton, TfL’s Director of Community Safety, Enforcement and Policing, said: “The success of Operation Helium shows that TfL, the Metropolitan Police and the Mayor take cycle theft seriously.

“The MPS Cycle Task Force has done a cracking job in tackling bike theft since it was launched back in September 2010 and will continue to do so as more people chose to cycle in London.

“We urge cyclists in London to help protect their bikes by parking their bike at a designated location, securely locking their bikes and ensuring that they are cycle security marked.”
 

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6 comments

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londonplayer | 13 years ago
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I live in London and have cycled here regularly for 10 years.

My advice to anyone cycling here is ride a cheap bike that if it does get nicked, you're not too worried about it. If my current bike was nicked, I wouldn't want it back unless I got it back within 10 minutes like Simon's.

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thereverent | 13 years ago
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Long overdue, now they also start to target other London markets like Nine Elms for the same thing to stop it just moving.

Some better places to lock bikes up would also help. Not far from Brick Lane by Liverpool St Station the rakcs over overflowing and bikes are lock to all sorts of other stuff.

Hopefully the Police have woken up to the fact that a samll number of people are involved with a large number of bike thefts. Catch them and the crime numbers drop dramatically for these thefts. As road.cc reported previously: http://road.cc/content/news/25030-70-bikes-later-one-man-bike-theft-crim...

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Simon_MacMichael | 13 years ago
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I've mentioned this before, and I guess the missus and I lucked out, but a few years back while having a Sunday lunchtime drink at Broadway Market after a nice ride along the canal, our bikes (locked, and out of line of sight for around 90 seconds while we were at the bar) were nicked.

Hotfooted it down to Brick Lane, literally bumped into bloke who'd just bought wife's bike, while police were taking his details, saw guy cycle past on mine.

Result? Both bikes back, both purchasers arrested for handling stolen goods. Thieves had vanished.

Police explained at the time that they wanted word to get out that if you went to Brick Lane expecting to buy a cheap (stolen) bike, you could also expect to be treated as a criminal.

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Alb | 13 years ago
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Better late than never I suppose! Glad they can spin some positive PR from it after years of turning a blind eye to the stolen bikes being hawked down Brick Lane.

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OldRidgeback | 13 years ago
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How things have changed. When the Manitou forks were stolen from my mountain bike locked to railings outside the office where I worked in the early 1990s, I rang the police to report the theft. To say the police at Southwark station were uninterested would've been an overstatement. They couldn't have cared less basically. I realised who had taken the forks, which were expensive as some lads had been hanging about and I recognised them as being local troublemakers. When I told the officer he said, "I could give you their names and addresses."

But of course he didn't. Nor would he give me a crime number. I was furious, which is why I've remembered exactly what he said after all these years. Because he wouldn't give me a crime number I couldn't claim on insurance so the cost of the forks came straight out of my pocket never to return. I did try calling back, to no avail and no further progress.

The fact that the mayor is a cyclist perhaps plays a part in the way the police now regard cyclists with a little less contempt than in the past.

I am curious why it took so long for the police to identify Brick Lane Market as a place where stolen bicycles end up.

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mr-andrew | 13 years ago
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I had my commuter bike marked a while back and the police seemed really on top of things. I was really impressed.
It would of course be easier to lock your bike at a designated location if they existed in any reasonable number - but that's another story altogether.

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