Jamiesfeast – The NYPD is taking strong measures against unregistered scooters due to the increasing frequency of robberies committed by criminals on mopeds in the city over the past few months.
According to ABC7, officers conducted a raid on migrant facilities across the five boroughs on Wednesday night. During the operation, they confiscated numerous illegal electric bikes and transported them away on a flatbed.
According to the station, the bikes that were confiscated either did not have registrations or had stolen plates.
Migrants in New York often rely on mopeds and scooters to earn a living by delivering food to customers through popular apps like GrubHub, Seamless, and UberEats.
Police say that thieves have also used scooters to quickly take wallets, phones, jewelry, and handbags from people walking by and then run away with them.
“We are seeing an uptick of scooter robberies in the city, particularly in Manhattan, where individuals are on scooters, normally two on a scooter, and they’re taking their cell phones, AirPods, Beats, wallets, purses,” NYPD Assistant Commissioner Kaz Daughtry told the news station. “We’re going to be over aggressively going after these scooters and moped on city streets.”
Thieves have gone after New Yorkers as young as 11 years old. On January 10, a man on a bike in Queens cut the girl’s chains off.
According to the NYPD, there have been a total of 17 reported scooter-related robberies in Manhattan, Queens, and the Bronx over the past two months.
The use of illegal lithium-ion batteries in scooters poses a significant risk to New Yorkers, as these batteries have a history of exploding and causing dangerous fires that spread quickly and can be fatal.
In just the first two weeks of 2024, eight fires were ignited in New York City due to lithium-ion batteries, resulting in injuries to three individuals. In the previous year, a total of 267 fires were caused by these batteries, leading to 18 fatalities and 150 injuries.
“After a devastating fire in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, which claimed the lives of three people from three different generations of one family, Fire Commissioner Laura Kavanagh expressed her concern over the use of illegal and uncertified devices. She referred to these devices as ticking time bombs due to their potential hazards.”