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Crime and Policing Bill

My Lords, my Amendment 416 would get around the problem of cyclists hiding themselves from the police by covering their faces when breaking the law.

I was extremely grateful to the Minister for taking time to meet me to discuss the various amendments to the Bill that I had tabled or supported. I endorse much of the Bill, as he knows, in its efforts to prevent and reduce crime. That includes the Government’s new offences on cycling and e-scooters, and the amendments discussed on 15 December and moved by the former Met Commissioner, the noble Lord, Lord Hogan-Howe, who, like me, felt that we could go further. I just hope that action will follow.

My noble friend Lord Blencathra, who spoke so eloquently in that debate, may be amused to know that the comparison with the Wild West was a repeat of what I had said many months before. My reference to the Wild West was taken up by, I think, the Daily Mail, only to be requoted by the Mayor of London—no doubt because he agrees that it represents the problem well.

4.45 pm

I return to the subject with today’s amendment, because we have a lacuna that is a matter for the Home Office to address. Our city streets now teem with men —usually men—on fast cycles, electric bikes and scooters whose faces, sometimes even in summer, are hidden by balaclavas or ski masks. This feels hostile, even if it is not, especially if accompanied by live music or shouts of, “Get out of the way”. Often, the intentions of such concealment are malign.

Nor, I must stress, are we dealing only with a London issue. Newspaper reports show, for example, that in Darlington there were hundreds of complaints last year about balaclavad youths on bikes riding recklessly in groups around pedestrians. It is absolutely appalling, and quite frightening, especially for the elderly and disabled.

Increasingly, masking is adopted to avoid identification by passers-by, police officers or digital cameras, because those concerned have a mind to commit crimes, such as phone theft, if the opportunity arises. I believe we need to put a stop to it. We need a new power, and we need it now rather than waiting while the problem grows.

We also may want to make use of live facial recognition, which may help the police to deal with this scourge and obviously does not work when faces are covered. As I did not speak on the LFR amendment, I would add that facial recognition can help with serious offences. There was an interesting article in the Times in December about a convicted sex offender who was walking alone with a six year-old girl, whose mother he had befriended, when he was caught out, thankfully, by LFR and given a two-year sentence. We also heard how LFR was being used in Croydon on another occasion. However, the noble Baroness, Lady Doocey, suggested, I think rightly, that any LFR legislation would probably take another two years and I do not believe that we can wait for that Bill to deal with the scourge of cycle and scooter crime.

In the Bill before us, the Government are already tackling the problem of the concealment of identity at protests within certain zones. I understand that in some countries—Switzerland, France and fashionable Denmark—there has been a proscription of facial coverings in public spaces. I am not seeking to go that far. My amendment would allow a police constable to stop a person who wore a face covering while cycling or riding on a scooter in such a way as to conceal their identity. It would not ban such coverings, but it would create an offence if a person wearing a face covering failed to stop when required to do so. The penalty would be a level 3 fine or imprisonment not exceeding a month. My noble friend Lord Blencathra will note that this is a power for police constables only, not for other enforcement bodies about which he has voiced some concerns.

My main purpose is to take the opportunity of this Bill to aid better enforcement of the law by the police. My amendment would allow the police actively to identify those committing crimes such as phone theft, delivering drugs, harassing and intimidating the young or the old, including riding dangerously past my house on the pavement at very high speed. The Minister promised to look into the matter for me and to consider my amendment. We share the same objective and I hope he will agree to this modest amendment to make it easier for the police to do their excellent work. I beg to move.