The New York City Police Department said it will enhance its summer enforcement strategy to remove illegal motorized scooters, mopeds, bikes, all terrain vehicles (ATVs) and other unregistered vehicles from city streets, especially at a time when the city sees an uptick in crime during the warmer weather months.
Scooters and similar modes of transportation enable criminals to quickly commit offenses and escape even quicker, city officials said through a news release.
“Mopeds and scooters are not only endangering pedestrians when they are driven recklessly, but we have also seen an exponential increase in criminals using them to ride around and snatch property from New Yorkers," said New York City Mayor Eric Adams.
Scooters have been increasingly used in attempts to evade police because these two-wheeled vehicles can be driven onto sidewalks and into tight alleyways through which police cars cannot fit, the news release said.
Since 2022, crime patterns for street robberies and grand larcenies involving the use of illegal scooters and mopeds have steadily increased. In the first five months of 2022, the NYPD tracked 10 total robbery patterns, made up of 44 complaints involving these types of unregistered vehicles. Over those same five months in 2023, the number of robbery patterns increased to a total of 22, while the number of complaints jumped to 104.
Through just the first five months of 2024, the NYPD has already identified a total of 79 robbery patterns, almost eight times the figure in the same period in 2022, with more than 415 complaints, almost 10 times the figure in the same period in 2022.
“These motorbikes are dangerous and reckless, and they put everyone on our streets and sidewalks at risk. On top of that, these bikes have become the vehicle of choice in the commission of robberies and other violent crime patterns across our city," said NYPD Commissioner Edward A. Caban.
In 2023, the NYPD confiscated 18,430 illegal and unregistered motorized scooters, bikes, and ATVs, a 128% increase from 2022.
This year, the NYPD has already removed more than 13,000 illegal two-wheeled vehicles and ATVs.
