We joined Humberside Police officers on a day of coordinated action
I joined Humberside Police officers on a day of action against nuisance bike and e-scooter riders, and was struck by the commitment of officers to tackle the issue. The force held an Op Yellowfin day of action in North Lincolnshire, centred around Scunthorpe, Brigg and surrounding rural areas.
Officers from its South Bank Rural Task Force Team, specialist drone pilots and Op Yokohama off-road motorbike officers joined forces for much of the day. Along with a colleague, I spent time with both the officers deploying the drone surveillance and the Rural Task Force.
We joined them as they got set to resume activities in the afternoon, heading out from Ashby Police Station. After a briefing, it was then a slight case of ‘musical cars’ as the drone pilots PCs Darian Hullett and Dan Mosley got a vehicle upgrade, both to accommodate two journalists in tow and to be able to go off-road.
The pair are part of community policing in North East Lincolnshire normally and PC Hullett is the lead Op Yellowfin officer there. Both were clear enthusiasts for the technology, with PC Hullett mentioning he had been keen for drone capabilities after he became Op Yellowfin’s lead officer in North East Lincolnshire last year. They got their training in January at Norfolk Constabulary and detailed that over there, there is a trial of NPCC remote-controlled drones, launchable from a police station and not limited to a 500 metre radius of the controller.
We ended up at the edge of a field near Dragonby for the drone to look over farm tracks and the quarry north of Scunthorpe steelworks. There was no biker activity to report this time, but PC Hullett said the location was chosen because of recent intelligence from the public. The drone has a 120 times zoom, bright lights, and can issue stern automated commands.
PC Hullett said he had wanted to go into traffic policing. “I got offered this as a sort of a portfolio thing. Started doing this and was like, I don’t want to leave it. I enjoy it so much,” he said.
“I enjoy the aspect of the traffic crime of it, motorbike traffic crime, chasing people,” and catching them, he said, when asked why he enjoyed the role so much. He indicated he took a great deal of satisfaction from when his role could help in particular victims of motorbike theft.
He also mentioned education sessions he has done in his role on the topic of nuisance bikes. Another aspect picked up on the day of action against nuisance bikers was the balancing of police interventions against the safety of individuals. PC Mosley pointed limitations in the law when asked what were the greatest challenges faced in tackling nuisance bikes.
“I appreciate members of the public may seek hard enforcement. As much as they’re criminals or offenders, they’re still people and we’ve got to look after them and not cause them any harm. And also the risk to the public if we put more pressure on them, it might cause their behaviour to escalate, so that’s a limitation.” He also mentioned resources in the context of his regular beat in Cleethorpes and how demand is much more significant during the Summer, with the likes of missing person incidents and a much-inflated population.
After the drone’s outing over the quarry we joined Rural Task Force officers. The first 10 minutes with them was an adrenaline ride, as a report came in of two bikes being ridden at a play park near Kingsway, Scunthorpe.
Cue sirens and lights blazing and fast driving into the town, although in the end to no avail. There was a lot of police radio chatter as officers coordinated to try to pick up the riders trail again.
Later, three youths were caught with what looked to be e-bike by other Rural Task Force officers and we briefly parked alongside. However, seeing the youths, who did not look like they were even old enough to be teenagers, appear to be fully cooperative, Sergeant Burnett quickly made the call to move on as it may have looked over the top to have four officers there.
Five e-scooters seized
Although I did not see any vehicles seized on the day myself, Humberside Police have confirmed five e-scooters were seized as part of the day of action, and over 100 vehicles recovered in the last year or so. These are illegal on public highways in most parts of the country, including the entirety of the Humberside Police force area.
Last Summer, Op Yellowfin enforcement activity across the force led to:
- 14 arrests.
- 61 addresses issued with Yellowfin anti-social behaviour warning notices.
- 45 warnings issues to drivers.
- 55 traffic offence reports submitted for crimes such as failing to stop, driving without insurance, and careless inconsiderate driving.
- 7 Youth Justice referrals.
Bike thefts are often associated with nuisance bike activities and last year, there were 212 reports of stolen motorbikes across the force area. This included 73 in North East Lincolnshire.
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