Many congratulations to the worthy winners of the Cycle Crime Awards at the 2017 Cycle Crime Conference.

The conference was hosted by BikeRegister, the national cycle database, in association with British Transport Police (BTP), and took place in Birmingham on Tuesday, 5th July.

James Brown, BikeRegister MD, said: “A definite highlight of this year’s conference was the awards ceremony, which paid tribute to the great work being done by so many police forces and partners using BikeRegister to fight bike crime.”

Here are the 2017 Cycle Crime Award Winners:

Most Stolen Bikes Recovered (using BikeRegister)
Winner: Thames Valley Police
Thames Valley Police arrested a man suspected of handling stolen goods, after an enormous haul of 164 bicycles was found in his garden. The 48-year-old was detained after he was caught in possession of two bikes that were registered as stolen. The haul was found at the man’s home in Oxford, where police arrested the man on suspicion of handling stolen goods. Four bikes were listed as stolen on the police checking system, and at least 10 more were listed on BikeRegister. PCSO Ryan Tappin, one of the team tasked with checking the bikes, said: 'I've never seen anything like this before.


Most Amount of Bikes Marked
Winner: Met Police – Hillingdon Safer Transport Team
The Hillingdon Safer Transport Team has marked 2,969 cycles with BikeRegister over the period of 2016/17. The team, led by Acting Police Sergeant Lisa Khelifi, has embraced cycle crime reduction, holding regular marking events as well as carrying out their ‘Sheducation’ scheme which targets victims of shed burglary. Targeting both shed break-ins and cycle crime in this way has led to a dramatic reduction in overall burglary and cycle crime on their patch. A/PS Khelifi has also worked with London Borough of Hillingdon and Transport for London to ensure local cycle shops record and mark the majority of all bikes sold in Hillingdon. Through partnership working The Hillingdon STT team and Hillingdon Council are now designing a bespoke cycle rack for the borough.

Most Significant Reduction in Cycle Theft
Winner: Lancashire Constabulary
Officers from Lancashire Police achieved a 58% reduction in bike theft through the implementation of Operation Derailleur, a multi-stranded operation to prevent and deter theft of pedal cycles. PC Cornthwaite and PC Arundale are Neighbourhood Policing Officers from Lancaster, Lancashire and were responsible for introducing the Operation in 2015.
Focussing on frequent bike marking events, they also introduced a targeted media campaign and improved social media usage and public interaction. They rolled out Operation Derailleur locally and the ‘I Love My Bike Campaign’ countywide in order to highlight cycle theft.

The Partnership Project Award
Winner: Transport for West Midlands, Safer Travel Police Team and London Midland
To combat an upward trend in cycle-related crime at rail stations, Transport for West Midlands and the Safer Travel Partnership and rail operator London Midland formulated a series of initiatives to address the situation and ensure new and existing cycle rail commuters would have the confidence to cycle and ride including the ‘Love Your Bike’ sessions. The partnership offers secure smartcard access cycle hubs, intelligence-led patrols at cycle crime hotspots, subsidised gold standard D-locks at stations, BikeRegister bike marking and decoy tracker bikes.

Note to editors
Image shows winners of The Partnership Project Award.
 

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

Phone: +44 (0)1689 487829
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @bikeregister