POLICE in York are introducing new tracker systems which will allow them to hunt down stolen bikes.

It is the latest initiative in their battle against a sharp rise in cycle theft in the city.

Officers are also increasing covert surveillance patrols at York’s most popular cycle-parking areas.

The new initiatives are part of the Red Hand campaign, which was today unveiled by North Yorkshire Police and Safer York Partnership, warning criminals “not to get caught red-handed”.

Signs outlining the aims of the operation will be placed at cycle racks and on buses throughout the city to warn thieves what lies in store for them if they continue to steal.

The new tracker systems will be secretly attached to unmarked bikes randomly deployed by police at various cycle racks throughout the city.

If these bikes are stolen, their movements can be traced and those who took the bike can be quickly caught.

Earlier this year, The Press revealed how five bikes were being stolen every day. Insp Mark Henderson, of North Yorkshire Police, said then it was the “crime of choice” because bikes were too often a soft target for thieves looking to make easy money.

The latest stage of York’s anti-bike-crime approach, Operation Spoke, was launched with the aid of funding from the Cycling City York programme.

Insp Henderson said would-be cycle thieves should now have a “genuine fear” that the cycle they were thinking of stealing was a police tracker cycle.

He said for the sake of a possible £20 to £30 a thief could earn for selling a bike on, the very real possibility of being caught and being landed with a criminal record meant it was not worth the risk.

“We have access to a large number of various makes and models of cycles and are deploying them all over the city on a daily basis. We are determined to reduce cycle theft in York and will use every means at our disposal.”

Tanya Lyon, of Safer York’s multi-agency cycle theft task group, asked cyclists to help by being more vigilant and improving security when it came to locking bikes.

She said: “Bike thieves will always seek out the easy target of a poorly secured bike. We cannot emphasise strongly enough just how conspicuous such bikes are to an experienced thief. They just provide an open invitation.”

Anyone with information on stolen bikes should phone Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.