Children as young as eight have been caught in Dundee illegally riding motorbikes.
A crackdown on nuisance bikers has involved all age groups, from eight-year-olds to 25-year-olds.
Police have even come across fathers accompanying their sons on joyrides.
A dedicated task force of four officers, operating under the banner Operation Challenge, has already seized six bikes and many more riders are under surveillance.
PC Dave Cassie said: “As a dedicated response team we get behind the calls and follow them up. We target the offenders in an off-road area.
“You find them in groups of three or four when they reach where they’re going.
“But when we get near they take off in different directions.
“The main way we do it is to take pictures to identify them.”
The task force has targeted several city parks, green space by Dundee Ice Arena and Templeton Woods, all of which have proved popular with the bikers.
The officers also rely on public calls for tip-offs about where the illegal vehicles are being stored.
PC Cassie said: “People use the off-road bikes in parks, that’s where we have the biggest problem.
“But the offenders ride through the streets from where they are stored.
“They don’t wear helmets or protective gear and go in the traffic.
“They are putting people’s lives at risk. We’ve even had cases in play parks.”
The vehicles are purchased from all over the country on internet sites, with the Operation Challenge taskforce identifying Gumtree and Ebay as popular choices.
For the next few months PC Cassie and fellow officers Martin Townsend, Paul Thomson and Ryan Brown will be continuing their efforts.
PC Cassie said: “There are purposely designed off-road tracks in Fife for people to use and they’re probably more fun.
“Sometimes it’s ignorance of the law and we are engaging with those people and letting them know where they can ride legally. But some people who do it just cannot be bothered to use these facilities.”