More than 70 arrests were made last week as a result of increased activity as part of Project Cycle Ops - a partnership initiative between Transport for London the police and cycling groups to tackle cycle theft from public places across the Capital.

Officers from the Transport for London (TfL) funded Metropolitan Police Service Safer Transport Command (STC), British Transport Police (BTP) and City of London Police (CoLP) stepped up their activity last week, using a range of tactics to crack down on cycle thieves. In total, more than 50 bikes were seized which officers are now trying to identify whether they are stolen and find their rightful owners.

Eleven of the bikes seized were Bromptons which were recovered as a result of a search warrant at an address in Harrow, following intelligence into the sale of stolen bikes online. So far, 13 bikes, including four of these have been identified as being stolen and will be returned to their owners.

In the last week, more than 1,400 cyclists have had their bike security marked and registered on bikeregister.com using BikeRegister, the MPS preferred cycle registration database and the main search tool used by the police to reunite stolen bikes to their owner. They were also given advice on how to lock up their bikes securely in order to deter cycle theft.

Registering details of your bike helps the police and retailers identify and verify the legitimate owner of bikes that have been stolen or are being resold. Over 48,000 bikes have been marked and registered onto BikeRegister by the MPS since June 2010.

Project Cycle Ops is an on-going partnership initiative involving hundreds of officers to tackle cycle theft using a variety of tactics including bike marking and registration events, engaging with cyclists, high-visibility patrols, surveillance, intelligence-led operations and covert policing tactics.

Superintendent Stuart Trayler, Safer Transport Command, said: “Through a wide range of tactics, the increased policing activity this week has seen some excellent results in the Capital.

“This activity, which will continue to run across London’s 32 boroughs, is part of Project Cycle Ops, a collaborative approach between the MPS, Transport for London (TfL), British Transport and City of London Police officers funded by TfL to crack down on cycle theft from public places in the city. It’s vital that all cyclists are able to leave their locked bike knowing that it will be secure and there when they return.”

Siwan Hayward, Deputy Director of CSEP at TfL said: “Working with our partners in the Police, TfL strongly supports the Mayor’s vision of getting more people cycling across London, while driving down cycle theft across the capital. Project Cycle Ops is the latest phase of our award winning partnership and has helped us recover a large number of stolen bikes and arrest more than 70 bike thieves.

“While operations like these send a clear message that bike theft is not tolerated in the Capital, all cyclists are urged to register their bikes online for free to help us identify and recover them if stolen or resold.”

For more information and images: Angela Singleton, Selectamark Press Officer. Mobile: +44 (0)7905 623 819. Email:[email protected]

For further information and images contact: Jodie Fisher, Marketing Executive for Selectamark.

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