Northumbria Police operation to tackle motorbike disorder in Northumberland proving successful
by James Robinson · ChronicleLiveA Northumbria Police operation to clamp down on motorbike disorder has continued to deliver promising results.
Operation Capio was launched last year with the aim of disrupting and preventing anti-social motorcycle use across the force area. It focuses on identifying "prolific nuisance riders" and seizing their vehicles.
Speaking at Wednesday's meeting of Northumberland County Council's Cramlington, Bedlington and Seaton Valley local area committee, officers from the force said the tactics used in the operation were having an impact almost a year on. However, it was confirmed that the problem was still being treated as a priority by the force.
Jonathan Caisley, neighbourhood inspector for Cramlington and Seaton Valley, said: "We have a dedicated motorcycle disorder team who have made a significant difference.
"The team try and do callbacks with everybody who reports it and we have a really good success rate. This has reassured our communities that we are interested - people thought we weren't, but we really are. It means we can gather information and take action. We have seen some really good results - we are knocking on doors and seizing bikes."
Inspector Wayne Daniels continued: "Last year we saw a massive increase in motorbike disorder. Electric bikes are more accessible and more and more silly youths are getting them. We have done over 500 callbacks to residents - we do try and call as many people back as we can. This has helped a lot, it reassures people that we're doing something and we're listening.
"We've also gathered a lot of intelligence from it so callbacks are very good. We're also working with garages to encourage them to make riders take their helmets off and come into shops rather than pay at the pump, so we have them on CCTV. We have seen motorbikes seized and quite a few arrests. Incidents in August were less than half the number in the same month last year."
Last August saw 98 reports of motorbike disorder, while this year it had fallen to 22. Tackling motorbike disorder was made a key priority by Chief Constable Vanessa Jardine last year.
She described the off-road bikes as "awful" and "dangerous" and urged the public to make reports to improve intelligence. In 2023, residents in parts of Northumberland said they were too scared to leave their homes because of the issue.
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