Garda Commissioner Drew Harris has said gardaí can now pursue people driving scramblers, scooters and electric bikes in a dangerous fashion, which they had previously been forbidden to do.
Commissioner Harris said the previous policy has been changed and these drivers, mostly young men wearing face coverings and not helmets, can be apprehended through pursuit and vehicle-stopping devices.
However he insisted like all pursuits, this must be proportionate and appropriate.
Thousands of unlicensed, uninsured, unsafe and stolen scramblers, scooters, motorbikes and electric scooters are being driven in a reckless and dangerous fashion in towns and cities all over the country.
They are also being used by criminal gangs to commit serious offences including attacks on rival criminals, burglary, thefts and drug dealing.
The drivers, mainly young men, drive dangerously at high speed in parks and on the roads without helmets with their faces covered, weaving in and out of traffic and performing wheelies.
Pedestrians and drivers have also been seriously injured and killed.
Recently enacted legislation allows the gardaí to seize scramblers and hundreds have been confiscated as a result.
However, the law only allows gardaí to enter the area around a house to seize a motorbike. They need a warrant to arrest a driver.
Gardaí also say organised crime gangs are using scramblers to deliver and deal drugs with some gangs supplying teens and vulnerable adults with these bikes to enable them to work for them.
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Several garda operations targeting these gangs have resulted in the seizure of large quantities of drugs and cash and hundreds of bikes.
However, the drivers have also been aware of the gardaí's non-pursuit policy and have been taunting them, waiting outside garda stations for officers to come out and driving in front of and around patrol cars.
A policy change for scramblers and motorbikes
However, Mr Harris has now announced a change in the policy as regards to scramblers and motorbikes.
He said gardaí can now pursue them if it is appropriate, proportionate and necessary to do so.
The Commissioner added that like other garda pursuits, they must be declared and there must be an element of control because he outlined it is highly dangerous to pursue individuals and there must be a plan about containment.
"It’s not about pursuing until the fuel runs out," he said. "It is about a balance, authority and the ability to pursue a vehicle. It has to be proportional and necessary as to what the outcome will be."
He also said that like all pursuits "careful decision making is required".
"We recognise the growth in electric bikes and very powerful electric bikes to facilitate criminality and obviously we have to be in a position to deal with that and we will," he said.
Mr Harris explained the change in policy as regards scramblers and motorbikes recognises the problem that operational members are facing and "aims to put them in a position where there is a decision-making framework to back up their decisions where they can actually say 'this is what we are seeing on the ground and we feel we have to do this'".
"If it's appropriate and proportionate to the threat they can pursue," he said.
