Jewel thieves in London use bikes? Ah, London, the centre of the earth. The safest and easiest way to pursue a car or bike in the city is a combination of helicopter and cctv. The old bollocks about abandoning cars and walking into a supermarket or shopping centre are also outdated. Modern cctv systems and direct links to the police mean that offenders are quickly identified in an average British city. 99.9% of our little angels would always head for home and bail the car near to where they lived. We could often guess the individual driving the car by the route he drove, placing a car near his home estate. Not kids, hardened aggrevated burglars who assault householders with weapons and steal from them. Should they not be pursued?
If you want to complain, it's a democracy, feel free, just don't expect the people here who do the job every day to agree with your flawed argument.