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21
Oct
Police consider using drones to track people 'driving e-bikes anti-socially'
Police are looking at using drones to track people who ride e-bikes anti-socially.
Scott Bisset, deputy chief constable at North Yorkshire Police, said the force had been looking at “best practice from external forces” to tackle the problem.
He was responding to a question by a member of the public about recent anti-social behaviour around e-bikes in Ripon.
Speaking at an online meeting chaired by Jo Coles, deputy mayor for policing for York and North Yorkshire, DCC Bisset said police were “alive to the anti-social behaviour issue” in the city and that the issue of e-bikes was a “particular problem for policing nationally".
He added that the force had looked to other forces for “best practice” in tackling the problem, which included the use of motorcyclists and drones.
DCC Bisset said:
We have just adopted some practice from external forces, including the use of off-road motorcyclists to provide a better, more capable response to people who are driving e-bikes anti-socially and the use of drones. We are just looking at how we can use them in a way which provides us with the ability to track the riders of these bikes.
Some of the challenges are technical around how the drones can operate when the pilot can’t see it if a bike makes off. So we have got to get over that. But we have taken best practice nationally and we are just embedding that now.
The move comes as Tim Forber, chief constable at North Yorkshire Police, said previously that police officers have been given training on the law of e-bikes and warned people using them on public land is illegal.
Government guidance currently states that e-bikes which "can be propelled at more than 15.5 miles per hour" must not be used on the pavement and must be insured and taxed.
DCC Bisset said police would also consider the safety of people riding e-bikes when using best practice adopted from other forces.
He added
We have had to look at best practice because obviously some of the people on e-bikes are young people. Getting into pursuit position in vehicles or motorcycles where they could come to serious harm is something that we need to consider carefully in the circumstances in which we do it.
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