West Yorkshire MAG’s Theft Plan

This page contains documents in response to the West Yorkshire 2024-28 Policing and Crime Plan.

West Yorkshire has one of the highest rates of motorcycle theft in England outside Greater London. Many are stolen by members of organised gangs who are involved with other types of serious crime. Thieves do not care about the difference between a motorcycle, e-bike or even a desirable pedal cycle as long as it is worth stealing. Theft and related offences have serious implications for community cohesion and Leeds’ vision of making the city somewhere where you don’t need a car.

In 2023 we held a meeting with the Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime to discuss motorcycle-related crime. She encouraged us to develop three “Big Asks”. These are:

  1. Data: Develop better data recording and reporting at local level whilst joining MAG in calling for the Home Office to introduce Theft of Motorcycle as a new offence code. At local level the ideal would be for them to publish the motorcycle specific theft, arrest and prosecution stats without us needing to go through FOIA process.
  2. Prioritisation: Make motorcycle theft figures a key performance indicator for the force that is consistently measured and publicly reported
  3. Prevention: Work with MAG to call for improved secure parking facilities and support/funding to expand Bumpy or similar charities. Address the root causes of motorcycle-theft and related crime through a multi-agency approach

The documents below were discussed by our branch reps and provide some suggestions on how to implement these.

The documents make reference to a number of statistics. The first is Motorcycle Theft in Perspective by Colin Brown. This is available from https://mag-uk.org/new-report-shows-motorcyclists-face-disproportionate-risk-of-theft/. The second is collated from several years’ worth of Freedom of Information Act requests. It is available to download as an Excel spreadsheet: