Dramatic fall in number of motorbike thefts due to pioneering Scunthorpe scheme
A PROJECT to tackle the theft of motorbikes is to be rolled out across North Lincolnshire, after the success of the scheme in Scunthorpe.
The scheme – which sees alarmed locks given out and unique chassis numbers recorded – has seen the number of bike thefts fall drastically.
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PC Richard Short with one of the locks
Between June and the beginning of November, there were 50 motorbikes stolen from across the town's eight policing wards.
Since November 19, when the project was first introduced, there have been just 24.
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Now funding for an extra 400 locks has been secured to roll the project out across North Lincolnshire.
Richard Short, the neighbourhood police officer in charge of the project in the Westcliff area, said: "The figures are very promising.
"There have clearly been results and the response we have had is fantastic.
"Because of this, we want to roll this out across North Lincolnshire.
"We will be attending Barton Bike Night on Wednesday, July 3 to educate riders and encourage more people to sign up."
The scheme is run in conjunction with North Lincolnshire Council, Safer Neighbourhoods and Rusty's Cycles shop in Ashby.
Since the project was set up in November, there have been just nine thefts of bikes and a further 15 from sheds and garages.
In Bottesford, there had been six bikes stolen from garages and sheds between June and November, but since then, none have been stolen.
Stolen bikes are often found burned out, with yobs often riding them round beforehand, triggering complaints from neighbours.
But PC Short said making bikes harder to steal would take away a tool that criminals would use for crime.
"A motorbike is often a youth's chosen mode of transport to commit crime," he said. "So if we can take away this vehicle to commit crime, then we can stop further offending.
"Cutting the theft of motorbikes also reduces the number of antisocial behaviour calls that we get.
"At the moment, our antisocial behaviour figures are quite good and are below the set targets, which is encouraging."
PC Short said there was often a spike in bike thefts during the summer holidays and officers were preparing in advance for this.
Comments
by Shinya
Wednesday, March 20 2013, 9:41AM
“Very commendable but personally I avoid the use of 'Disc Locks' as a momentary lapse can result in injury and damage. Extra check guard measures are a must with such locks.”