A Bedfordshire Police Chief Inspector is “sad” to hear Houghton Regis residents report 101 and “it’s a hit and miss” whether they get a positive response to off-road motorcycle incidents.
Off-road motorcycles pose a threat to local residents and riders can get aggressive when challenged, according to Parkside Central Bedfordshire Labor Councilor Antonia Ryan.
She raised the problem with Police and Detective Superintendent Festus Akinbusoye, who raised some of her concerns and asked Dunstable-based Chief Insp Lee Haines to respond as well.
The chief inspector said in an email, “Houghton Regis councilors have been asked to identify police priorities and propose drug use and trafficking in the Tithing Farm area and illegal use of e-scooters.”
Concerns about antisocial behavior and crime related to e-scooter driving were raised, which Councilor Ryan also linked with off-road motorcycling.
She was encouraged by Chief Insp Haines to attend the next priority setting meeting for the city on January 17th.
“By choosing community priorities, it enables finite police resources to focus on issues that matter most to the community,” he said.
“Once these are established, they will provide your local community team with access to additional resources and funding. I agree with you on the effects of illegal use of off-road motorcycles.
“While we support off-road motorcycling at legal, safe and organized events, the use of these vehicles by a minority of our community on roads and sidewalks is dangerous to drive.
“To combat this, Bedfordshire Police have an Operation Meteor off-road motorcycle team targeting hotspots across the county.
“They have been used successfully in many areas recently and I have asked them to investigate and plan for incidents at Parkside.”
In addition to an online reporting tool for incidents, residents can call the control room on 101 or report via web chat, according to Chief Insp Haines.
“I’m sad to hear local residents report 101 and ‘it’s a hit and miss’ that the police can solve motorcycle incidents,” he said.
“I can explain that every incident is classified according to threat, harm and risk. These range from calls to other government agencies to 999 emergency calls, and most of them concern ongoing crime.
“I acknowledge that some of the nuisance-only incidents reported are unlikely to be immediately resourced when other higher risk incidents are outstanding.
“I am very interested in the voice of your residents being heard. There is also the monthly meeting of the Working Group on Combating Crime organized by the Houghton Regis City Council.
“This meeting allocates the funding and leads the patrol patterns for our dedicated anti-social behavior campaign for Houghton Regis.
“The Operation Meteor team will be devoting activities to Parkside station and the local team is aware of your letter,” he added.
“I would like to draw your attention to our meeting in order to redirect further resources to this topic and to work together in partnership.
“They also emphasize the importance of officials being connected to their communities, which I agree with.
“We have five community officials and six police officers who work on behalf of Dunstable, Houghton Regis and the surrounding areas.”
Councilor Ryan referred to “the desperate situation my residents are in over the use of off-road motorcycles” and described some of the activities as “violating the community’s right to feel safe and secure.”
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