NYPD Goes After Illegal Mopeds and Scooters With Enforcement, Task Force

By FrumNews.com

NYC Mayor Eric Adams and NYPD Commissioner Edward A. Caban today announced the NYPD’s enhanced enforcement strategy to help remove illegal motorized scooters, mopeds, bikes, all-terrain vehicles (ATVs), and other unregistered vehicles from city streets as warmer weather months typically see an uptick in crime patterns involving these illegal vehicles.

In 2023, the NYPD claimed it confiscated 18,430 illegal and unregistered motorized scooters, bikes, and ATVs, up 128 percent from 2022. This year, the NYPD has already removed more than 13,000 vehicles.

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.

According to the NYPD, Scooters and similar modes of transportation enable criminals to commit offenses quickly — often physically assaulting a victim in the process — without ever getting out of their vehicle or simply by temporarily dismounting while a second individual stays seated. In both instances, mopeds and scooters facilitate a fast escape. In response, the NYPD has strategically deployed Public Safety Teams to the locations and times at which many of these crimes are most likely to occur. Further, investigators are working to uncover any criminal networks that are enabling offenders.

“When it comes to protecting public safety, this administration is crushing it, and that includes our efforts to crack down on the ongoing issue of illegal mopeds and scooters on our streets and sidewalks,” said Mayor Adams. “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. That’s why the NYPD will be ramping up a summer enforcement strategy to curb use of these illegal and unregistered vehicles.

“These illegal vehicles have no place in New York City,” said NYPD Commissioner Caban. “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.”