In recent years London has been struggling with an explosion of street crime. A major culprit is the criminals who use mopeds to navigate the British capital’s many back alleys and side streets, thus avoiding police pursuers in cars that cannot access those smaller routes. But now that’s changing.
Adopting new tactics, London’s Metropolitan Police service has achieved a striking 36 percent year-on-year reduction in moped-related crimes. And while better intelligence targeting of prolific offenders has been a key factor in the police success, another arrow in the quiver has been the new tactic of knocking suspects off their mopeds.
The benefit of this approach is that it prevents the suspect from fleeing and allows for a speedier arrest. Beyond taking criminals off the street, this speed of arrest serves the moral interest of reducing the risk of an innocent bystander being injured during the police pursuit. Some are complaining that this police tactic is excessively aggressive, but they are wrong. Many moped-user criminals are known to engage in violent gang activity (a major problem for London), armed robbery, and acid attacks. In that context, police knocking tactics are reasonable and proportionate, the requirements for any U.K. police use of force to be deemed legal.
Regardless, the videos released this week by the police are in the finest tradition of Churchillian glory. Don’t believe me? Just watch below.
