Bike thefts at stations effectively 'decriminalised' as BTP to no longer investigate

[deltic]

The BBC has a news item giving a list of crimes that the police will no longer investigate under certain circumstances.

Car thefts will not be investigated if the vehicle has been left for more than two hours, while any bikes stolen worth less than £200 will also not be investigated.

The reason given is the time taken to review CCTV.

"The more time our officers spend reviewing CCTV... the less time they have available for patrolling railway stations and trains, investigating crimes which cause the most harm."

This seems to suggest that the police continue to review CCTV from start to finish rather than a much quicker technique that should just take minutes - ie view halfpoint of footage - is bike there? if yes jump to 3/4 point, if not 1/4 point of footage, continue till you find - takes minutes regardless of length of footage.

List of incidents that will no longer be followed up are set out in the article at https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c8jm3wxvlkjo

 

[ainsworth74]

It's this sort of thing that the Government (of any stripe) needs to get a grip and why it feels like the UK is increasingly lawless. When it gets to the point the police are saying "if it's worth less than a couple of hundred quid and you left alone for more than a few hours we ain't interested" we really are done for. Of course these sorts of crimes are a nightmare from a police perspective. But to just throw up your hands and give up? Brilliant response. 50p says that if you managed to track down where your bike had gone and told the police exactly where to go and look to find it and likely the criminal responsible they'd not be interested.

 

[Oxfordblues]

I often leave my bike at Oxford Station - with 4 locks. If it takes 10 minutes to break each one they'd be there for 40 minutes!

 

[Walter Whigham]

There was an alarming story in "Rail" magazine a couple of weeks ago. A wide-ranging article reported a funding shortfall in BT Police of nearly £10m for 2025-26. Closures are planned by April 2026 for BTP police stations at Carmarthen, Lancaster, Grimsby, Bromley, Middlesborough, Southport, Stoke, Richmond, Gatwick and Taunton. In Scotland this has apparently been happening already. Dumbarton, Dundee and Perth will lose its presence. Officers at Dumbarton have already moved to the station in Glasgow.

If this all comes to pass there will be alarming gaps in presence on the network. For example, there will be not be a presence on the WCML between Preston and Glasgow! It is utter madness!

BTP's Chief Constable has said "It is inevitable that we will have fewer police officers and staff available to respond to crimes and incidents in the future".

All this has serious implications not only for the travelling public, but support for railway staff generally.

The main problem appears to be the Secretary of State for Transport. The woman seems to have her head in the sand.

 

[Spandau]

Surely the BTP could get civilian employees/volunteers to trawl CCTV then highlight anything spotted to an officer?

 

[deltic]

Germany and France, amongst others, operate without a separate railway police force, do they provide a better or worse policing of the railways than BTP in GB? Certainly seen lots of police at stations in both countries. What is Northern Ireland Railway's experience with the then RUC and now PSNI?

 

[signed]

Germany and France, amongst others, operate without a separate railway police force, do they provide a better or worse policing of the railways than BTP in GB?

There is a transport police in France which has a railway division, though the major networks (SNCF, RATP...) nearly only operate their own private security as the first line.

 

[Ellwill]

The main problem appears to be the Secretary of State for Transport. The woman seems to have her head in the sand.

The treasury certainly doesn't help with their fiscal straightjacket imposing what's effectively austerity in all but name. I do agree however that Mrs Alexander isn't the best person for the job, though not as bad as Grayling or Shapps in my humble opinion.

 

[MartinC]

There is a transport police in France which has a railway division, though the major networks (SNCF, RATP...) nearly only operate their own private security as the first line.

Last week in Strasbourg Ville there was also seven fully armed soldiers on patrol in the station

 

[WirralLine]

I got assaulted working a train a few months ago and didn't bother to report to BTP because they're about as much use as a chocolate teapot, nothing would come of it and i can't be bothered with the hassle. I've had them out before over some pretty bad racial discrimination between some people onboard my train and when they arrived (yes they actually turned up!!) they just asked what I wanted them to do about it.

Funny enough 2 weeks ago I had an unattended rucksack on my train - using the "HOT" principal, hidden? Obviously suspicious? Typical? I declared it a bit odd. Luckily I had BTP travelling onboard and alerted them to it who said, and I quote "you'll just have to hand it into lost property mate"! Couldn't make it up. The whole system (not just BTP) needs a complete revamp.

 

[AlterEgo]

The BBC has a news item giving a list of crimes that the police will no longer investigate under certain circumstances.



The reason given is the time taken to review CCTV.


This seems to suggest that the police continue to review CCTV from start to finish rather than a much quicker technique that should just take minutes - ie view halfpoint of footage - is bike there? if yes jump to 3/4 point, if not 1/4 point of footage, continue till you find - takes minutes regardless of length of footage.

The police aren't very bright. It would take me about 10 minutes to find a thief from 24 hours of CCTV. This is so obviously lazy from the police.

 

[deltic]

There is a transport police in France which has a railway division, though the major networks (SNCF, RATP...) nearly only operate their own private security as the first line.

Do you mean there is a railway division within the National Police Force and the Gendarmerie? I'm not aware of a separate police force like BTP operating in France.

 

[Jamiescott1]

I've had 2 interactions with BTP, both at Paddington.

Once someone was smoking on the train. The train was in the platform 15 minutes before departure. I reported to BTP officers stationed on concourse. No one came

Second time, I wanted to retrieve my bike from the bike rack behind the gateline to platforms 11/12. Gateline was unstaffed and all gates with a red cross.
I pushed through the gates and a BTP officer appeared and said he could arrest me for criminal damage. He then said I'd taken him away from his job of looking out for bike thiefs
I said no one is going to steal a bike with a police officer in full uniform standing amongst the bikes. He didnt like that.

 

[styles]

50p says that if you managed to track down where your bike had gone and told the police exactly where to go and look to find it and likely the criminal responsible they'd not be interested.

Indeed, this has been the case for friends of mine who have had (sometimes quite expensive) bikes nicked and they've had AirTags/similar on them. The Met not interested, say we're too busy.

The thing is, occasionally the City of London Police do manage to recover hauls of stolen bikes and post images online to try and reunite them with their owners. When they do though, they often then struggle to actually find the owners! Last year they had this operation and had only reunited under half of them: https://www.cityoflondon.police.uk/...uary/two-members-of-a-bike-theft-gang-jailed/

The City of London Police recovered 57 bikes, with a value of £100,000, as well as bike parts at Express Plant Hire, which was also being used by the thieves and handlers as a place to dispose of the stolen bikes.


Further investigations of CCTV footage showed the bike thieves entering the warehouse on a daily basis and some of the defendants were seen on security footage dismantling the bikes.


Baldwin was seen on the footage to hand over angle grinders, a common tool used to steal bikes, to the thieves.


A further 21 bikes were recovered from Akram’s home address.


Police have so far returned more than 20 of the bikes to their owners.

Can't prevent all crime, but I do think people should be reminded to use proper locks and register their bikes with BikeRegister (free to register the frame number, or you can buy a permanent marking or UV kit for £20/30): https://www.bikeregister.com/. Also remember that while the police may say they can't do anything at the time, if they at least have a crime report with a description of your bike, and they manage to recover it, they can search records and potentially link it back, even if it's not been registered.

 

[Harpo]

We’ve only just (theoretically) exited the disastrous £200 shoplifting threshold. Publicly stating a minimum cash value on actionable thefts is shocking and will have a predictable outcome.

 

[Bertie the bus]

It's this sort of thing that the Government (of any stripe) needs to get a grip and why it feels like the UK is increasingly lawless. When it gets to the point the police are saying "if it's worth less than a couple of hundred quid and you left alone for more than a few hours we ain't interested" we really are done for. Of course these sorts of crimes are a nightmare from a police perspective. But to just throw up your hands and give up? Brilliant response. 50p says that if you managed to track down where your bike had gone and told the police exactly where to go and look to find it and likely the criminal responsible they'd not be interested.

There is absolutely nothing new about the police not caring about certain crimes. The only new thing are a) they now admit it and b) it is far more widely reported than in the past.

In around 1990 I was burgled when I was a student. I went to the police station to report it and was told they like to attend burglaries so I should go home and wait for them. When they turned up they weren’t the slightest bit interested, did effectively nothing despite there being clear finger prints and said I had no chance of getting anything back or any of the neighbours giving any information, I was living in a student area at the time, and would I they like them to quiz the person in the flat next door because it might be them?

Then around 2000 I was working in the City. I had a decent car and the wing mirrors (worth about £200 each even back then) were stolen in a car park. I reported it to the City of London police and the desk plod laughed in my face.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

Do you mean there is a railway division within the National Police Force and the Gendarmerie? I'm not aware of a separate police force like BTP operating in France.

Yes, that will be the Police Ferroviaire.

I've seen them around quite a lot in Paris.

 

[contrex]

Yes, that will be the Police Ferroviaire.

I've seen them around quite a lot in Paris.

They give them shooters:

 

[signed]

Do you mean there is a railway division within the National Police Force and the Gendarmerie? I'm not aware of a separate police force like BTP operating in France.

Yes, there is, Service Nationale de la Police Ferroviaire, but it's very tiny (315 strong according to Wikipedia) and mostly operates around borders and as liaison and support to the operator's force and Gendarmerie

Link in French

Service national de la police ferroviaire — Wikipédia

fr.wikipedia.org

Yes, that will be the Police Ferroviaire.

I've seen them around quite a lot in Paris.

That's the SNCF private security force, and the one you'll most likely see

Last week in Strasbourg Ville there was also seven fully armed soldiers on patrol in the station

Those are military for the Vigipirate anti-terrorism alert scheme

 

[Adam Williams]

This seems to suggest that the police continue to review CCTV from start to finish rather than a much quicker technique that should just take minutes - ie view halfpoint of footage - is bike there? if yes jump to 3/4 point, if not 1/4 point of footage, continue till you find - takes minutes regardless of length of footage.

Yeah, it's a "binary search".

Very disappointing, really. It's not just BTP either, the Met don't investigate phone thefts properly anymore. No interest in reviewing CCTV.

 

[D1511]

See it,
Don't bother saying it.
Because we're not going to sort it......

 

[Lg_]

There was an alarming story in "Rail" magazine a couple of weeks ago. A wide-ranging article reported a funding shortfall in BT Police of nearly £10m for 2025-26. Closures are planned by April 2026 for BTP police stations at Carmarthen, Lancaster, Grimsby, Bromley, Middlesborough, Southport, Stoke, Richmond, Gatwick and Taunton. In Scotland this has apparently been happening already. Dumbarton, Dundee and Perth will lose its presence. Officers at Dumbarton have already moved to the station in Glasgow.

Lancaster hasn't been manned for some time due to the ongoing works at the station meaning staff were moved "temporarily" to Preston.

If this all comes to pass there will be alarming gaps in presence on the network. For example, there will be not be a presence on the WCML between Preston and Glasgow! It is utter madness!

Carlisle is a BTP location.

 

[contrex]

The last time I had a mountain bike stolen, I reported it to the local police, and nothing much seemed to happen, but six months later I got a letter saying I could visit their warehouse and pick out (i.e. select!) a bike from their collection of unclaimed ones. I found one that was the same model as mine, but with a different saddle. Result, in my opinion.

 

[sheff1]

There was an alarming story in "Rail" magazine a couple of weeks ago. A wide-ranging article reported a funding shortfall in BT Police of nearly £10m for 2025-26. Closures are planned by April 2026 for BTP police stations at Carmarthen, Lancaster, Grimsby, Bromley, Middlesborough, Southport, Stoke, Richmond, Gatwick and Taunton. In Scotland this has apparently been happening already. Dumbarton, Dundee and Perth will lose its presence. Officers at Dumbarton have already moved to the station in Glasgow.

If this all comes to pass there will be alarming gaps in presence on the network. For example, there will be not be a presence on the WCML between Preston and Glasgow! It is utter madness!

BTP's Chief Constable has said "It is inevitable that we will have fewer police officers and staff available to respond to crimes and incidents in the future".

Expect we will still have to suffer "See It, Say It, Sorted" on loop though.

 

[RUK]

Reviewing CCTV footage for changes seems like the sort of thing that AI/machine learning could actually be put to good use to, to save time. It’s being used on medical images to save radiographers’ time in reviewing images, so I would think that it should be good enough for this, too.

 

[TUC]

By definition, most people parking their car at a station to go to work will leave it there for more than two hours. If you can't work that out police officer, please leave the force. There's much better than you out there.

 

[alex397]

See It, Say It, Meh….

 

[Brubulus]

Reviewing CCTV footage for changes seems like the sort of thing that AI/machine learning could actually be put to good use to, to save time. It’s being used on medical images to save radiographers’ time in reviewing images, so I would think that it should be good enough for this, too.

Absolutely, this. Alongside this, where possible, facial recognition should also be used, so they can be caught in future/ if they're a person already known to the police (as most are). This sort of thing is why I support universal facial recognition and Digital ID, though the authorities need to get their act together to use the wealth of surveillance technology at their disposal.

 

[canary fan]

Last week in Strasbourg Ville there was also seven fully armed soldiers on patrol in the station

Having travelled around Europe, this is actually quite common in France but nowhere else. It would be interesting to know if it makes any difference to bike thefts, as the main aim is obviously terrorism related.

 

[james_the_xv]

Absolutely, this. Alongside this, where possible, facial recognition should also be used, so they can be caught in future/ if they're a person already known to the police (as most are). This sort of thing is why I support universal facial recognition and Digital ID, though the authorities need to get their act together to use the wealth of surveillance technology at their disposal.

Yet if you even mention the rollout of better facial recognition technology to the general public there's an outcry. But it's objectively something that AI can do the legwork for (with a human confirmation for warrants/charges) and its the epitome of 'if you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear'.