Police have been cracking down on bike theft this summer as part of a dedicated operation.
Sergeant Jenni Taylor from Operation Armour speaks about the work the team has been doing during the initiative which saw 45 people charged, more than 50 bikes recovered and thousands of pounds in cash seized.
What the operation involved
Back in April this year, we launched the Operation Lathe/Armour initiatives for 2021, which concluded at the end of August.
The primary focus for us was to address the theft of pedal cycles and theft of motorcycles within Aberdeen City.
Our team, myself with PC’s Arran Young, David Gardner and Liam Bradford had, and maintained, a good working knowledge of the ongoing issues within the communities of Aberdeen in which we were patrolling through regular background research and liaison with Community Policing Teams in addition to partners.
This meant whilst we were patrolling known hot spot areas, our team detected a wide range of other offences through diligent and proactive policing.
These offences include for example, two people involved in the theft of motor vehicles (cars), eight instances of people being involved in the supply of controlled drugs, twenty instances of possession of controlled drugs, three people found in possession of weapons, including a hunting knife and nine-inch kitchen knives.
It also included various road traffic offences involving motor cars, two people for assault and one instance of robbery as well as the detection and apprehension of offenders involved in various acquisitive crime series.
45 people charged during operation
The team also spent periods of time assisting other specialised officer with drugs search warrants and targeted initiatives, assisting with enquiries to trace missing persons and attending divisional calls to support operational policing.
Assistance from our operational uniformed colleagues was instrumental in the success of this operation as a number of the protracted enquiries were in the north of the city and required a number of officers to be involved, particularly in relation to search warrants.
In total, our team charged 45 people, libelled 143 charges, recovered 59 pedal cycles, five motorbikes and two motor vehicles.
We seized over £6,000 in cash and controlled drugs with estimated street value of almost £10,000.
I shall now be returning to Community Policing Team at Tillydrone and Seaton.
Part of the great thing about working in the police is that we, as officers, have so many varied opportunities to experience different aspects of policing.
It has been good to have a time to dedicate to focus and proactively work around specific crimes, whilst still having the flexibility to adapt and support colleagues in other areas.
In addition it was good to see that on several occasions we were able to support our uniformed, detective or specialised colleagues in turn.
Keep your bikes safe
My advice following my time with Operation Armour to all owners of bikes, whether that’s e-bikes, pedal cycles or motorbikes, would be that effective prevention and protection is strongly advisable.
We can be contacted on 101, but also through our website there are other ways to get in touch with us to report any crimes or concerns.
There are email addresses relating to geographical areas throughout the division there and there is an online contact us form.
In addition, anonymous information can always be provided through the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 or via their website.
Only by working together, with colleagues, partners and the public, we can deter and detect all forms of criminality.