Met Police Unveil Bike-Mounted Flying Squad: A Game-Changer in Urban Policing 

The new Met Police unit hits London’s streets with electric dirt bikes, tackling phone snatching and street crime with speed and agility.

The Met Police has introduced five specially adapted Sur-Ron Ultra Bee electric dirt bikes to combat London’s rising phone thefts and street crime. These high-performance bikes, tailored for the job, are now part of a groundbreaking initiative to outpace and outmaneuver criminals who use bicycles or electric motorbikes for their getaways.

Officers have undergone advanced training to maximize the bikes' capabilities, and tactical contact—a maneuver allowing them to safely stop offenders on foot or on vehicles—has been officially approved. The Met is betting on this innovative approach to curb the alarming rate of phone snatching, which sees a device stolen every six minutes in the capital.

The Met Police has launched a new initiative to combat London’s phone theft ‘epidemic’ with the introduction of five specially adapted Sur-Ron Ultra Bee electric dirt bikes. This move is aimed at tackling the alarming statistic of 91,000 phones stolen annually—one every six minutes.

Most stolen phones are handed off to criminal gangs, often hacked to access sensitive banking and password information, with some even making their way to shops as far away as Hong Kong, according to The Telegraph.

The Met’s innovative Flying Squad seeks to disrupt this criminal supply chain. Equipped with specialist training and approved for tactical contact maneuvers, officers on these high-performance electric bikes are poised to out maneuver offenders and curb the capital’s rising street crime.

Speaking about London’s phone theft crisis, a Met spokesperson said:

“Robbery and theft is invasive, frustrating and it’s simply not acceptable in our city. That’s why we are using data and intelligence to deploy officers into key hotspot areas. These are a mix of uniformed officers to deter criminals, and plain clothed officers to catch offenders.

“We encourage people to report as soon as they can whenever they have been a victim of robbery or theft, to increase the chances of us catching offenders.

“In addition to keeping Londoners safe, we’re also using technology and data to build intelligence and track stolen phones. We’re then using this data to develop our intelligence about common locations for where stolen phones are kept, helping us to recover devices.”

The bike’s being ridden by the officers cost around £5,000 in civilian trim, and include features like long-travel suspension, disc brakes, and knobbly tyres. They are powered by a 74V, 55Ah battery pack which is linked to 8kW electric motor which can propel the bike to around 60 to 70mph and accelerate it to 50mph in three seconds.