The Liberal Democrats have warned that bike theft has been effectively “decriminalised” as analysis of Home Office data found nine in 10 cases reported to the police since 2019 had gone unsolved.
Speaking to the Telegraph newspaper, who published the party’s analysis of crime figures, Lib Dem home affairs spokesperson Alistair Carmichael called the figures “shocking” and cause for cyclists to be left “wondering if bike theft has been decriminalised”.
Of all bike thefts reported to the police since 2019, 89 per cent (more than 365,000) have gone unsolved, the analysis of Home Office data showed, pointing to more than eight reported bike thefts an hour and 200 per day going unsolved in England and Wales over the past four years.
And while the data suggests 11 per cent of reported cases are solved, just two per cent (8,437) resulted in an arrest and charge for the perpetrator. That figure has fallen from three per cent in the year to June 2019, reported bike thefts also down from 97,800 in that year to between 74,000 and 78,000 in the three years since.
> Three quarters of Brits don’t expect police to bother investigating bike thefts
The overall picture will be even worse, the analysis only accounting for bike thefts that are reported to the police, the British crime survey suggesting there are actually around 300,000 bike thefts a year.
“Whether they are used for commuting, family days out or exercise, people’s bikes are a hugely valued possession, so thefts leave victims feeling both out of pocket and distressed. Knowing the thief will probably get away with it just adds salt to the wound,” Mr Carmichael of the Lib Dems said.
“Years of neglect under this Conservative government have emboldened criminals and left frontline police officers without the resources they need to investigate crimes like bike theft properly. The government needs to restore community policing where police are visible in their neighbourhoods and can focus on solving local crimes.”
Sarah McGonagle, director of external affairs for Cycling UK, said the “huge social impact” of bike theft, which is “sometimes perceived as a petty crime”, should be considered as it is “putting many people off cycling altogether”.
“While we acknowledge the limitations on police resources, with more than half of stolen bikes being resold online there’s clearly huge scope for improved targeting of internet marketplaces to identify and prosecute serial offenders and organised criminals,” she said.
Addressing the figures and comments, policing minister Chris Philp insisted the Conservatives have “cut the number of theft offences by 47 per cent since 2010, including bicycle theft by 54 per cent”.
Today’s figures will of course be of little surprise to many, the same analysis by the Lib Dems this time last year finding the same conclusion — that almost 90 per cent of bike thefts reported to the police closed without a suspect being identified. In September, it was revealed that bike thefts at train stations had increased by 39 per cent in 2022 compared with 2021.
And just yesterday we reported new figures which showed that two bikejackings a day are taking place in London, with riders targeted by muggers, often riding mopeds or threatening victims with knives, and numerous incidents reported in Regent’s Park and its surrounding area.
In August, a Staffordshire-based elite mountain biker said police inaction to bike theft had become so bad that he had hired a private investigator after £45,000 worth of bicycles were stolen in a burglary at his parents’ house.
A month later, a mother whose son’s bicycle was stolen by a prolific bike thief took the novel approach to catching the guilty party by holding a three-day protest outside his house, featuring signs asking ‘Where’s my bike, Dave?’, after she grew tired of the police’s lack of action despite significant evidence.
16 thoughts on “Warning that bike theft has been “decriminalised” as stats show 89% of reported cases unsolved”
I can only but assume that 10
I can only but assume that 10 of the other 11% is people who got really drunk and just forgot where their bikes were locked up therefore magically solve the crime of the missing bike.
Actually found my old bike
Actually found my old bike months later like this, with the same lock I have the key to, outside a nightclub.
Only 9 out of 10? I’d
Only 9 out of 10? I’d assumed more like 48 out of 50, or even higher.
There has to be established a
There has to be established a mandatory acquiring protocol for any bike purchase new or used ones. For new things are easy, but even for used ones there should be a statement saying that X guy bought from Y guy the bike with Z frame number.
cyclisto wrote:
That sounds complicated and would undoubtedly by bypassed by a lot of people.
The answer is to get the police to do their job and catch the thieves. Obviously, we’re going to have to fund them properly which might have to wait until we get a functional government in place (the Tories being the party of poverty and crime – why do people still vote for them?). Actually catching bike thieves is easy enough as the police can just set up some honey-pot bikes that have trackers fitted inside them and leave them in a theft hot-spot with a low quality lock. Then they just wait for them to be nicked and trace down where the thieves are – catching them red-handed.
Lobby your PCCs and MPs for
Lobby your PCCs and MPs for funding or forget it. It’s a resources issue as we all know.
Cavey65 wrote:
I think the change is needed higher up.
hawkinspeter wrote:
They’ve already identified all the bike theft hotspots and put signs up “Bike thieves operate in this area”, so they know where to finally start doing their job. As with many other types of crime, it usually leads to uncovering and resolving other crimes… almost as if the investment in policing pays off in bigger returns, who knew!
That’s really a national bike
That’s really a national bike registration scheme but the money would be better spent on more officers on the streets – it would cost an awful lot of money for a national database.
I don’t think it would cost
I don’t think it would cost that much to make a database that can be fed with data.
@hawkinspeter agree, honey-pot bikes traps seems like a great and easy idea to implement.
cyclisto wrote:
It’s not a new idea and has been used before, but appears to be referred to as “bait bikes” (honey-pot traps are often used to refer to computer security which is where I got the term from).
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/green-living-blog/2010/jun/30/police-thefts-bait-bikes
The pilot schemes seemed to show bait bikes are a significant deterrent. Bikes thefts dropped by 45% at Cambridge rail station when British Transport Police tested the method. Even in the UK’s bike theft capital, London, rates dropped by around a third in one local trial.
That article also discusses the use of unlocked bait bikes which I think don’t really have much use – we want to deter the organised, pre-meditated stealing of locked bikes rather than the opportunistic grabbing of an unlocked bike.
National systems cost a lot
National systems cost a lot of money and more so when starting from scratch.
Then there’s all the verification and validation required before you get to recording a sale with the work required for that.
How many of you have
How many of you have registered your bike(s) on bikeregister.com? (other websites no doubt available)… Police often come across suspected stolen bikes but can’t tie them to owners or incidents.
I’d love to know whether
I’d love to know whether anyone has experience of the police finding a stolen bike, looking it up on bikeregister, and returning it to the rightful owner.
(that being said, my bike is registered on there).
Pretty much everything has
Pretty much everything has been decrimalised, the police haven’t done much of a job since the early 1990 s. I’m only surprised the government hasn’t introduced an incentive scheme for thieves , the more you steal the bigger bonus they pay l and now we’re importing criminals from all overbthe world as illegal immigrants
Luckily posting bait on
Luckily posting bait on forums is still illegal though?