People and communities
Off-road bikes seized and arrests made during special operation across Walsall
Published on
Two seized bikes will be used for community projects to encourage skills in bike maintenance in a legal way and the road bike owner made to prove it is road legal before being returned to its owner at a hefty cost.
We seized two off-road bikes and an uninsured road worthy motor bike as well as making two arrests when we took part in a special operation across Walsall.
Our Brownhills and Blakenall neighbourhood teams linked up with the National Police Air Service (NPAS), WMP traffic and WMP’s off-road bikes teams yesterday (Sun) to take part in Op Adhesion. We were joined by our partners including Walsall Council, The Canal and Rivers Trust and volunteers from the charity, Sustrans to carry out a day of enforcement action.
Two of the seized bikes will be used for community projects to encourage skills in bike maintenance in a legal way and the road bike owner made to prove it is road legal before being returned to its owner at a hefty cost.
The off-road bikes team reacted quickly to information from shop staff to arrest two shoplifters who had fled from a shop on Wolverhampton Road West in Willenhall. Two men were both taken into custody on suspicion of shoplifting with one of the men being wanted on a recall to prison.
During the day we deployed a fixed wing plane from NPAS to spot illegal bikers from the air and pinpoint their location. We then deployed our own specialist off-road motorbikes which allows us to enter and patrol public parks, paths, and wasteland and track down offenders.
“ We listened to your concerns and have taken action. We realise these bikes are often driven dangerously on roads and green spaces causing significant upset to our local communities.
Some are stolen and being used to commit crime such as theft, burglary and other related offences.
This was another successful operation where we seized three bikes which were being ridden illegally. During the operation our alert off-road bike team chased and apprehended two shoplifters who had fled from a shop. “
“ It was another excellent team effort involving our Brownhills and Blakenall neighbourhood teams, officers from both our traffic and off-road teams and the fixed wing plane from the National Police Air Service. As well as this we received help from our partners at Walsall Council, The Canal and Rivers Trust and volunteers from charity Sustrans.
We have carried out a number of these off-road bike operations over the last year after listening to the concerns of local people. We understand the nuisance they cause to people’s lives and that is why we are doing all we can to tackle the problem.
Illegal off-road biking is having a serious impact on our local communities which is totally unacceptable.
We continue to run these operations and will be targeting people who use these vehicles in an anti-social and dangerous way. We are warning offenders who continue to drive these machines illegally and putting the public at risk that they will be caught and their vehicles will be taken by the police and either destroyed or diverted into community projects. “
“ Walsall Council is proud to work in partnership with West Midlands Police to deliver this important operation and take positive action to seize vehicles and crackdown on anti-social behaviour.
We want to reassure our residents that the illegal use of off-road bikes is taken seriously. There’s a lot of good work being done to tackle it and keep people safe from this reckless and often unsafe behaviour, which has such a negative effect on the quality of life in our communities. “
We urge residents to continue to report any issues so that we have up-to-date descriptions and locations via Live Chat on our website or by ringing 101.
We would also encourage residents to sign up to the Community Alert scheme for updates using www.wmnow.co.uk
Ends
