The unlicensed ebike, while not a serious problem, is a really annoying one in certain places, and everybody suspects that it's not a wave of people doing it but in fact a fairly small number of people doing antisocial things over and over again. Who are relying on being untraceable and on a versatile getaway vehicle.

https://theedinburghreporter.co.uk/2025/11/thirteen-e-bikes-...

Note that "illegal motorbike with no plates" is an offense that you can detect just by looking at it. There's no "pre" in the crime. The problem is either stopping them or tracing them.

..And the broken windows theory of prosecuting minor crime to deter major crime worked pretty well in Guiliani New York.