We see these headlines all the time: “Police seize dirt bikes and crush them,” or something along those lines. And while we can see why the cops are firing up the crusher, it doesn’t make sense to ruin perfectly good bikes. Thankfully, we now have a story that shows British police coming up with an alternative plan.

The West Midlands police said they seized two off-road bikes as well as an uninsured street bikes in a recent operation. These machines will not be headed for a flattening, according to their PR:

Two of the seized bikes will be used for community projects to encourage skills in bike maintenance in a legal way and the road bike owner made to prove it is road legal before being returned to its owner at a hefty cost.

So: the bikes will serve as learning tools, not slag. Good.

The machines were actually seized in an wild operation that saw an airplane sent to spot shoplifting suspects who were fleeing on the dirt bikes. The police then sent their own dirt bike-riding officers to chase down the fleeing crims, and slap the cuffs on them. Afterwards, the cop shop’s neighborhood policing said they were listening to locals’ complaints about bike-borne baddies:

We listened to your concerns and have taken action. We realise these bikes are often driven dangerously on roads and green spaces causing significant upset to our local communities.

Some are stolen and being used to commit crime such as theft, burglary and other related offences.

Law enforcement actually taking pro-active measures to enforce the law, and avoiding senseless destruction? Sounds rare, but hopefully it’s an idea that catches on.