Bulwell officers hold day of action to crackdown on off-road bikers

Plain clothed officers and the drone team were all deployed as part of an operation to tackle off-road bikers in Bulwell.

Two bikes – one of which was reported stolen – were recovered by the Bulwell Neighbourhood Policing team during the day of action.

After splitting into teams, officers moved to different hot spot locations in the area and carried out plain clothed patrols on the lookout for antisocial behaviour.

During the operation, on 22 October, police were called to Grindon Crescent following reports two quad bikes had been seen speeding around the area.

Shortly afterwards, officers received information that a bike was in Southglade Park – one of the hotspot areas – with a drone then being deployed and spotting two riders on the field.

After approaching the area with plain clothed officers, the bike made off but was found abandoned shortly afterwards outside an address in Top Valley.

A check of the police system then showed the bike had been reported stolen, while a second bike was also recovered from nearby.

Tackling antisocial behaviour (ASB), such as off-road biking, is one of the chosen policing priorities for the City North area, with a lot of work being done to combat this issue.

As a result of this, reports of ASB have dropped by 15 per cent in Bulwell, when comparing the financial year to date with the period between April and October 2022.

Sergeant Jerone Taylor, of the Bulwell Neighbourhood Policing team, said: “We know how much of an impact ASB can have on people’s lives, and that includes off-road bikers, who cause a real nuisance to the community.

“After listening to the concerns of residents, we set up this operation to target these riders during the half term period, when we know this offending can be more regular.

“Using a mixture of patrols, plain clothed policing and with the assistance of the drone team, we were able to identify and seize two bikes, one of which was reported stolen, so this represented a good result.  

“Reducing ASB is something that we take very seriously, but we do rely on people reporting these incidents to us, so we’d ask anyone with any information to call us on 101, or contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111, so that we can act.

“Please rest assured that any information relating to off-road biking, such as locations where these bikes have been seen coming and going from, will always be dealt with in confidence.”