Overview

• New Home Office legislation will let officers destroy e-scooters and e-bikes used in antisocial behaviour within two days of seizure
• Home Office says the shortened disposal period will reinforce deterrents against mobile phone snatches, street robbery and drug dealing facilitated by these vehicles
• A public consultation will examine plans to reduce police costs for removal, storage and disposal as seizure volumes rise
• Metropolitan Police are deploying invisible DNA spray and increasing patrols in hotspot boroughs including Westminster, Lambeth and Newham
• Official data show phone snatch thefts hit a 20-year high of 99,000 last year, with over 66,000 offences recorded in London