London police hail their expanded e-bike fleet as ‘game changer’ against phone theft

The Met is deploying 20 new e-bikes, which are capable of speeds of up to 50 miles per hour (80 kph) and able to follow suspects off roads and even up stairs, aiming to tackle so-called snatch offences.During a patrol on Wednesday, one Met officer hailed the impact of the new e-bikes and the force's use of drones, though he said their "regular customers" had already learned to adapt to the police's shift patterns.The Met says the bikes have particularly helped them tackle mobile phone thefts, with statistics showing offences in the 12 months to May down from about 68,000 to 54,000.But the number of "positive outcomes", which the Met describes as offences resulting in a caution, charge or other criminal disposal, remains below 1%.Kaya Comer-Schwartz, London's deputy mayor for policing and c