Bikes stolen after two-hour timeframe at a train station won’t lead to investigation, BTP confirms
Posted on in Business News , Cycles News
The British Transport Police (BTP) has confirmed it will not investigate thefts of bicycles left outside train stations if the bike has been unattended for more than two hours, a policy critics say amounts to the decriminalisation of most such thefts.
Under the new approach, the BTP will not review CCTV or follow up reports in cases where the two-hour window has passed, even though many bike shelters outside stations are under camera surveillance.
The BTP has claimed that investigating long-window bike thefts ties up officers’ time reviewing footage that is unlikely to lead to prosecution, diverting effort away from “investigating crimes which cause the most harm”.
According to analysis of last year’s statistics from insurance comparison firm Compare the Market, more than 14,000 bicycles were reported stolen from UK train stations over a three-year period, with the report highlighting a number of stations including Cambridge North, St Albans and Watford Junction as ‘hotspots’ for this type of crime. The report also notes that due to a lack of reporting this figure could in fact be higher.
Simon Feldman reported his bike stolen from outside Watford Junction; despite the bike being under a camera, the BTP refused to investigate because he had left it there for about ten hours.
Mr Feldman said: “They [BTP] wouldn’t investigate it…even though it’s right under a camera … if you have left your bike for more than two hours, they won’t investigate it.” He added he was “pretty shocked because what it’s doing effectively is decriminalising bike theft … how many people are being affected by this.”
Earlier this year in April, a Sussex cyclist, Alex Frampton, told of the rear wheel and gears being stolen while his bike was left overnight at Wivelsfield Station, and was later informed by BTP that they would not investigate because he could not specify the two-hour window in which the theft occurred.
Speaking about the decision to not investigate bike theft outside train stations after two hours of it being left, a BTP spokesperson said: “Whilst we know that bike thefts are upsetting, inconvenient and potentially costly, there can often be limited opportunity for investigation. Our experience tells us at an early stage that there are some crimes that are unlikely to ever be solved – such as those without a clear estimate of time or location for the incident or if there is a lack of CCTV or witnesses.
“The more time our officers spend reviewing CCTV footage for these offences, the less time they have available for patrolling railway stations and trains, investigating crimes which cause the most harm. We will continue to apply a test of proportionality when determining investigation – looking at factors such as timeframes, witnesses, the availability of CCTV, the impact on the victim or whether there is a realistic prospect of a successful outcome. Any offence which is not investigated will still provide us with valuable intelligence, used to direct our patrols and operations.”