POLICE are getting on their bikes as they step up the fight against anti-social behaviour in Bishop’s Stortford.
Officers will soon be hitting the streets on two wheels, patrolling the Thorley Park area in a renewed drive against nuisance youngsters.
New bicycles have arrived at Stortford’s Basbow Lane station and police are now undertaking their bike patrol training.
The move follows feedback from town councillors, who raised concerns that the network of alleyways in Thorley Park is being used by yobs to get about unspotted.
It is believed that the rat-runs played a part in last year’s Hallowe’en chaos, when gangs of youths fled down them after committing serious acts of vandalism.
As well as turning over three cars on the estate, hooligans hurled live fireworks into the Dawn2Dusk off-licence in Elizabeth Road, threw plant pots at houses and smashed people’s front windows.
At a full town council meeting, PC Simon Marlow – who announced the news to members – was told Stortford’s main policing priorities are still anti-social behaviour, theft and speeding.
He told the councillors: “A fleet of new bikes is arriving to help us on our way around those back alleys – I’ve just passed the advanced cycling test.
“I will take all [your feedback] back to base.”
