Tuesday, 5 May, saw the launch of a joint Islington and Camden borough initiative, called Operation Attrition, to tackle moped related crime.

The operation is an intelligence led initiative which will use a range of policing tactics in order to tackle moped related crime. With a focus on deterrence and intervention, officers will adopt overt and covert methods to identify those people responsible, and, through an appropriate mix of judicial process and education, will reduce repeat offending whilst encouraging diversion through youth engagement.

A jointly resourced and co-located team has been created to proactively tackle this current crime trend.

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Operation Attrition results as of Wednesday, 20 May.

Over 200 stops, including many searches, across Islington, Camden, Hackney, Newham and London City.

64 arrests for a range of offences including robbery, theft, breach of court bail and community orders, motor vehicle crime, driving offences, and possession and supply of class A and B drugs.

Warrants at five premises to date have resulted in arrests for drug supply and handling stolen goods.

31 of the arrests have been shared across the 12 most active offenders of this type of criminality. These have resulted in 24 charges to date for these offenders alone; all of whom are now either on police bail or in custody.

Officers have conducted 28 weapons sweeps. Three knives and a meat cleaver were found.

There are plans for a number of proactive operations over the forthcoming weeks.

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Islington Borough Commander Catherine Roper said: “This initiative comes with a clear overarching message around safety: The safety of moped users, the safety of the people of both boroughs to not become victims of crime and the safety of officers to professionally respond to this type of criminality.
This operation will be supported by the ongoing youth engagement strategies which operate in partnership between the MPS and local authorities.”

Camden Borough Commander Richard Tucker said: ”While the initiative will increase the safety of the community, importantly it will focus on the young men involved in this offence. It cannot be under estimated how much risk these lads are putting themselves in by riding mopeds in this dangerous and reckless way.”

Anyone with information relating to moped related crime is asked to call the Operation Attrition team on: 07894 970 913.

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A gang, some of whose members lived locally, were recently jailed for their raid on The Dorchester Hotel and other premises.  The five men, aged between 17 and 19-years, stole around £335,000 of watches and jewellery.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-32707658