This week in the Haringey police column we focus on a day in the life of the Haringey Proactive Investigation Unit who tackle moped enabled crime on the borough. We follow them through one of their shifts, as explained by their sergeant:

The first thing we do when we begin a shift is review the latest intelligence update on moped crime across the borough. This is key because it is how we work out what to do with the rest of our time. We might then start by executing a search warrant at a suspected moped thief’s address based on information we’ve received over the past few days. Phones are one of the primary targets for moped-enabled theft so if we can recover these at an address and they are traceable back to a crime then this is a great result for us.

If this then throws up some further leads we could then launch an investigation into a new series of mobile phone snatches. This can be painstaking work but these are rarely one-off incidents so the important thing is to try to link these events as this way we can then piece together evidence from different incidents.

Maybe we will next do some covert patrols around traffic pinch points. We always have forensic tagging spray at the ready. This can be sprayed on riders that are suspected of being involved with crime as they go past and remains on their clothes and skin for weeks. If we later catch up with the rider, the unique formula of each spray can allows us to link them to the offence.

Afterwards perhaps we will pause to check in with the central team that oversee moped crime. This helps us to get an idea of trends across London and how this crime type is developing. This allows us to continually improve our approach.

As we draw towards the end of the shift, we could find ourselves responding to members of the public to recover any dumped mopeds. If we can get these seized and off the streets then they can’t be used to commit crime.

For all that hard work it’s good to see some results. On one of the warrants we conducted we recovered 30 phones with an estimated retail value of £20,000 along with £2,000 in cash. The male at the address was arrested and later deported as a result.

We know this is a huge issue for Haringey and London more widely but each day we are helping to bring these offenders to justice and deter others from choosing this way of life.