An ongoing joint operation by the Queens District Attorney’s office and the NYPD seeded 133 illegal motorbikes off the streets in Woodside and Long Island City this week. Photo courtesy of the DA’s office
Feb. 12, 2024 By Bill Parry
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz provided an update Friday on her ongoing crackdown with the NYPD on illegal scooters and mopeds in western Queens.
Detectives from the DA’s office working with officers from the NYPD’s 108th Precinct in Long Island City and the 114th Precinct in Astoria searched 18 locations in Woodside and Long Island City on Tuesday and Thursday night last week, seizing a total of 133 scooters and mopeds as part of an ongoing joint operation.
A previous operation seized 44 vehicles in the 114th Precinct and the 115th Precinct in Jackson Heights.
Photo courtesy of the DA’s office
“Unregistered scooters are being used to commit violent crimes, including shootings and robberies,” Katz said. “Through our proactive enforcement efforts in collaboration with the NYPD, we have taken close to 200 of these illegal vehicles off our streets in just one week.”
Of the 133 vehicles taken off the road last week, 103 were unregistered. The scooters and mopeds were confiscated for being illegally parked. The DA’s office and the NYPD initiated crackdowns to address the vehicle’s persistent involvement in crimes such as drive-by shootings and robberies.
“The men and women of the NYPD, in close collaboration with our law enforcement partners, continue to make headway in reducing the illegal use of motorized scooters in New York City,” NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban said. “With nearly 200 scooters seized in Queens so far this month, the positive effect on quality of life is tangible. Together, we are providing the public safety that New Yorkers expect and deserve.”
Additional operations are planned in Queens as part of an enforcement effort to get illegal unregistered motorized scooters and mopeds off the road.
“We will continue working with the NYPD to eliminate the threat illegal motorbikes represent to our communities,” Katz said.
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