Arrest made and bikes seized during Dudley North operation

We arrested a teenager and confiscated off-road and e-bikes during specially planned patrols in Dudley.

Our operation in Sedgley, Woodsetton, Gornal, Coseley and surrounding areas saw officers from a range of teams involved.

This included neighbourhood, force contact and force traffic as well as PCSOs and Specials all patrolling the northern neighbourhoods on Thursday (3 July).

There was also back-up from our off-road biking team, and dedicated Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB) officer alongside Dudley Council’s ASB and CCTV officers.

During the four-hour operation we spotted a boy riding an off-road bike carelessly and without wearing protective equipment in the Woodsetton area. The 17-year-old fled when we stopped him but we soon caught up. As well as having his bike taken off him, he was arrested and later charged with possession of an offensive weapon, possession of class B drugs, and traffic offences.

We also stopped an electric motorbike being ridden at speed by a man along Burton Road. We issued the 20-year-old with a formal warning for riding in an anti-social manner. A 24-year-old man also had his racing pit bike taken off him for riding without insurance.

In addition to the seizures, we issued a community resolution notice to a passenger on another motorbike for possessing cannabis. We also conducted two stop and searches, and officers took time to offer reassurance to local residents about the work we’re doing to tackle crime and anti-social behaviour across the borough.

The operation took place during ASB Awareness Week which highlights issues like aggressive biking, street drinking, littering, drug taking and other nuisance behaviour that bothers you, and how we’re dealing with these problems.

Our ASB officer hosted an online Q&A during the awareness week and we’re also asking residents to feedback their concerns via our WMnow email messaging service.

Sgt Ross Treacy from Dudley North’s Local Action Team, said: “When listening to concerns about ASB, people riding off-road bikes, e-bikes and other vehicles aggressively on streets and in parkland areas often tops the list of bugbears. It’s not just about the dangers they pose to pedestrians. These vehicles are often linked to criminal activity.

“We’re tackling this head on with operations like this and, while we’ll be running more of these, we also need members of the public to feed us information. I’d like to make a plea for residents to get in touch if they think can help us. We’re all ears.”

Sgt Alex Hipkiss from Force Contact added: “We know our presence acts as a deterrent to those who cause alarm riding vehicles recklessly on and off our roads and we hope people will see that we are taking their concerns seriously. We won’t let up in our efforts to tackle this and other forms of anti-social behaviour in our communities.”

If you see this kind of anti-social and dangerous riding, tell us about it via 101.

You can also sign for up for our free emal messaging service Home Page - WMnow to receive updates on how we’re dealing with crime in your area and to let us know about the issues that matter to you.