The crash site tributes stick in the mind. They warmly celebrate the bright, brief lives of the three boys who have died after being thrown from electric bikes after CCTV footage appeared to show them being followed by police.
But they also express anger and concern over why Kyrees Sullivan, 16, and 15-year-olds Harvey Evans and Saul Cookson died on the streets of Cardiff and Greater Manchester this year.
“Really didn’t deserve this,” says one tribute in Snowden Road in the Ely area of the Welsh capital, where best friends Kyrees and Harvey died. “Kids on bikes don’t kill,” reads a sign at Langworthy Road in Salford, near where Saul crashed.
This week as it emerged that the two officers who followed Kyrees and Harvey have been served gross misconduct notices, politicians, academics and bike industry leaders have called for a review of police tactics – and asked whether officers should ever pursue children who are riding electric bikes without helmets.
Sioned Williams MS, Plaid Cymru’s spokesperson on social justice, said: “We’ve got to look at the tactics that are used. I think the police need to review how they are assessing these incidents and the proportionality of how they are responding.”
She said children should not be pursued if they posed no danger to the public, adding: “There should be softer tactics in terms of working with young people.”
Natasha Asghar MS, the Conservative shadow transport minister in Wales, said: “I feel it’s vitally important that all police officers within all forces should receive training on pursuing e-bikes and e-scooters.” Asghar also called for more thought to be given about greater controls on electric bikes.
Dr Fred Cram, the director of the Cardiff centre for crime, law and justice at Cardiff University, said it was difficult to think of scenarios in which police chasing children without helmets could be justified.
He said: “Keeping in mind that in a pursuit the safety of the rider should generally not be put at risk, no matter what they have done, I think the police need to be able to answer a specific question here: is it possible to pursue a juvenile on an e-bike safely?
“My view is that if the police are unable to answer yes to this question definitively (as far is as is reasonably possible), then the answer must be no. And it is hard to imagine many circumstances where the safety of an e-bike rider – juvenile or not – is not going to be put at risk, if they are not wearing a helmet.”
Dr Mike Harrison, a lecturer in criminology at Swansea University, said: “I see this as yet another unfortunate situation where young, marginalised people that ride these bikes are being unfairly targeted. It is probably wise to suspend this practice [of chasing young people on e-bikes] until there is some kind of review.”
But it is not that straightforward. Community leaders in Cardiff and Salford said a blanket ban on police chases of children on bikes was difficult because gangs already use them to run tasks – and would do this even more if they knew they definitely would not be pursued.
Mike McCusker, the lead member for transport on Labour-controlled Salford city council, said reckless use of powerful e-bikes was creating a “wild west” situation in some areas. “The police are damned if they do, damned if they don’t,” he said, adding that better regulation and control was needed to take high-speed bikes off the streets.
Though the issue has hit the headlines this summer, the tensions between riders and the police – and whether officers should pursue someone not wearing a helmet – is not new.
In 2015 it emerged (paywall) that police were not chasing helmet-less suspects on motorcycles or mopeds, because forces believed a duty to protect riders’ lives outweighed the possible gains.
But after a spate of moped muggings by people, some as young as 14, in London, the Metropolitan police set up a team of “Scorpion drivers” trained in “tactical contact”, which included chasing, even knocking suspects off bikes. It made it clear the idea police never chased suspects if they did not wear helmets was a “big myth”.
The number of chases across the UK has soared. According to figures from National Police Chiefs’ Council after a freedom of information request, there were 4,473 recorded pursuits in 2018-19 and 11,198 in 2020-21.
Forces like South Wales and Greater Manchester started to get tougher on off-road motorbikes and electric bikes – which became more popular and can be being “tuned” to go at more than 50mph.
South Wales police launched a clampdown called Operation Red Manna, focusing on places such as Ely and set up an anti-social off-road team using scramblers, quad bikes and drones to keep up with suspects.
Greater Manchester police stepped up its approach, perhaps best illustrated by a pursuit in June 2021 involving an officer on an unmarked motorcycle who chased a suspect on an e-bike, attempting to knock him off by kicking out at him as they travelled at up to 26mph.
It ended with the rider, 27, hitting a signpost, suffering a serious head injury. The Independent Office for Police Conduct investigated and found the officer had acted appropriately.
There remains confusion over what exactly the bikes at the centre of the tragedies are, and the law around them.
Though the police and IOPC both say the machines the three teenagers were killed on as electric bikes or e-bikes, the UK’s Bicycle Association argues this is a misleading description for the sort of “Sur-Ron” bikes believed to be involved in the Cardiff and Manchester tragedies.
The association said in the UK, “electric bikes” or “e-bikes” are “gently motor-assisted cycles” limited in speed to 15.5 mph and have at most 250W “assist motors”. They must also have functional pedals and the rider must be pedalling for the motor assistance to operate (with limited exceptions). These are exempted from motorcycle regulations.
The bikes involved in both tragedies exceeded these limits and should be classed as electric motorbikes, the Bicycle Association said, meaning they needed to be taxed and insured and the rider should wear a helmet. It added that riding electric motorbikes on roads without these aspects in place was illegal.
Tony Campbell, the chief executive of the Motorcycle Industry Association, claimed the UK government had allowed the electric bike – or motorbike – market to develop so quickly that there was great uncertainty among many people as to what was allowed on a public highway – while policing and enforcement was patchy.
Campbell said: “We are in favour of reviewing regulation as it is clear it is outdated. As with any regulation it will need policing.”
He said there needed to be initiatives to explain the regulations to communities and clampdowns to take illegal bikes off the streets, lessening the need for chases. “The government has got to get a grip,” he added.
Neither South Wales nor Greater Manchester police was prepared to give more details about pursuit policies. The Home Office said: “Any decision on whether to undertake a pursuit is an operational matter for the police, and should take account of the risk factors and proportionality in each situation.”
Dasa, the cross-government team that is co-located at the science and defence base in Porton Down and Portsdown West in Wiltshire, has been commissioned by the Home Office to explore innovative ways of stopping e-bikes or motorcycles in a controlled way.
But this may be some while ahead. Meanwhile, tensions between police and riders are likely to grow.
