Fast On Foot, Faster Bike Cops Hit Streets

Less than an hour after pedaling out for the first time as bike cops, rookies Dave Vega and Rafael Ramirez came upon a crime scene: A bus with a smashed window and a frantic bus driver pointing at a man sprinting away down the street. The chase was on.

The sprinting suspect’s speed was no match for Vega and Ramirez’s quickness on their Raleigh police bikes. They easily overtook the man and put him in handcuffs, arresting him for smashing a window on a city bus.

That episode demonstrated the latest development in New Haven community policing: starting this week those walking-beat cops in every neighborhood in town will spend up to two days a week on two wheels. Forty rookie cops have completed training to pedal on patrol; the department has 20 new bikes ready for them. (Click here for a story about Thursday’s public unveiling of the new bikes.)

Vega and Ramirez got a jump on the action the other day when they chased down the window-smasher. They’re learning the advantages of policing by bike, a medium which allows the cops to combine a rapid response time with the personal touch of community policing. Out on their beat in the East Shore, they can stop and chat with neighbors or pedal alongside kids on BMX bikes, and still be able to respond to calls that come over the radio.

A bike cop is ​“like a mobile community policing unit,” said Sgt. Vinnie Anastasio, the East Shore’s top cop. Cops on bikes can cover more ground than cops on foot, and get into areas that cops in cars can’t, he said. Bike cops can explore neighborhood side streets, while a walking beat cop might stick to main roads, Anastasio said. ​“I can send them almost anywhere.”

Vega, who’s 35, and Ramirez (pictured), who’s 23, graduated from the Milford police academy last fall. They’ve been assigned to the East Shore since February as partnered walking cops. This month they started doing shifts as bike cops, and found some action on their very first day.

On July 4, Vega and Ramirez had been assigned to relieve cops who were directing traffic at Lighthouse Point. They pulled up on their bikes and were met by the bus driver who said someone had just smashed his window.

“He ran down the street! He ran down the street!” the driver shouted, and pointed toward Concord Street, where a man was sprinting away.

“Raf went right after him,” said Vega, who also took off on his bike.

The cops they were relieving also started running. ​“We blew by them,” Vega said.

The smasher was already 100 meters off, recalled Ramirez. ​“He had a pretty good head start.”

Vega tried to get past the fleeing man, to block his path, while Ramirez caught up with him from behind. With his left hand, he grabbed the guy’s shirt and managed to take him safely down, jumping off his bike in the process. After a struggle, the cops put the man in handcuffs. They charged him with criminal mischief, interfering, and breach of peace. He’d had some sort of altercation with the bus driver, and had punched out a window.

Run For The Border

Ramirez and Vega (pictured) are both native New Haveners. Ramirez grew up in the Church Street South housing complex, Vega, in Westville. They also both served in the military in Afghanistan: Ramirez with the army, Vega with the Marines. They’ve been paired up since the academy, patrolling a new walking beat that Anastasio created on Foxon Boulevard and Eastern Street.

July 4th wasn’t the first time they’ve had to hustle after a suspect. They’d already learned the virtue of a rapid response, and of being known in the neighborhood.

In the spring, only a short time after they started walking the beat in the East Shore, they were on patrolling Bouchet Lane on foot when a call came over the radio: a robbery at Taco Bell on Foxon Boulevard. The restaurant was nearly a mile away. Vega and Ramirez immediately took off, ​“sprinting the whole way.”

It turned out a woman had left her pocketbook in the Taco Bell, then returned to find it gone. The cops looked around and found the purse in a trash can, with $250 missing. Ramirez reviewed surveillance footage from the restaurant. He saw someone taking the purse.

“We knew him,” Vega said. It was a guy who worked across the street at Burger King. They asked after him there; word got back to the suspect immediately.

Not only did the cops know the suspect. The suspect knew the cops, and knew enough to turn himself in. ​“He met us at the Burger King,” Vega recalled.

“I heard the beat boys are looking for me,” the man said when he showed up to turn himself in. He went to court and paid back the $250.

“He still says hi to us,” said Vega. That’s the way community policing works: Cops make relationships with neighbors, and with people they arrest. ​“Sometimes they want to talk to the people they know.”

“After a while of you being around, people pull you to the side” and share tips with you, Vega said.

It’s a matter of ​“just being open and friendly,” Ramirez said.

That process works on bike as well as on foot, Vega said. He said kids biking on the street will often ride with the cops for a little while, an opportunity to chat and build relationships.

“These guys are very personable,” said Sgt. Anastasio. ​“I’ve gotten nothing but great calls on their interactions with people.”

He commented on their speed getting to the scene: ​“They’re quick to get there. Now they’ll be even quicker.”

Seconds

Vega and Ramirez wheeled out of the police substation on Woodward Avenue Tuesday afternoon, and a tan sedan immediately pulled over. A woman in the passenger seat shouted that a woman was being assaulted outside the church around the corner. Vega and Ramirez took off.

They cut through a bank parking lot and arrived in a matter of seconds at St. Andrew’s Church at the corner of Forbes and Townsend. They didn’t find a woman being assaulted, only a woman complaining about getting harassing text messages. A misunderstanding. She didn’t want to file a complaint, she said. Then she climbed aboard a city bus.

Vega and Ramirez pedaled off, joined by a teenager on a BMX bike who chatted with them for a block as they rode.

Read other installments in the Independent’s ​“Cop of the Week” series: 

• Shafiq Abdussabur
• Craig Alston & Billy White Jr.
• James Baker
• Lloyd Barrett
• Manmeet Bhagtana (Colon)
• Paul Bicki
• Paul Bicki (2)
• Sheree Biros
• Bitang
• Scott Branfuhr
• Dennis Burgh
• Anthony Campbell
• Rob Clark & Joe Roberts
• Sydney Collier
• Carlos Conceicao
• Carlos Conceicao (2)
• Carlos Conceicao and Josh Kyle
• David Coppola
• Roy Davis
• Joe Dease
• Milton DeJesus
• Milton DeJesus (2)
• Brian Donnelly
• Anthony Duff
• Robert DuPont
• Jeremie Elliott and Scott Shumway
• Jose Escobar Sr.
• Bertram Ettienne
• Bertram Ettienne (2)
• Martin Feliciano & Lou DeCrescenzo
• Paul Finch
• Jeffrey Fletcher
• Renee Forte
• Marco Francia
• William Gargone
• William Gargone & Mike Torre
• Derek Gartner
• Derek Gartner & Ryan Macuirzynski
• Jon Haddad & Daniela Rodriguez
• Dan Hartnett
• Ray Hassett
• Robert Hayden
• Robin Higgins
• Ronnell Higgins
• William Hurley & Eddie Morrone
• Racheal Inconiglios
• Juan Ingles
• Paul Kenney
• Hilda Kilpatrick
• Herb Johnson
• John Kaczor & Alex Morgillo
• Jillian Knox
• Peter Krause
• Peter Krause (2)
• Amanda Leyda
• Rob Levy
• Anthony Maio
• Dana Martin
• Steve McMorris
• Juan Monzon
• Chris Perrone
• Ron Perry
• Joe Pettola
• Diego Quintero and Elvin Rivera
• Stephanie Redding
• Tony Reyes
• David Rivera
• Luis & David Rivera
• Luis Rivera (2)
• Salvador Rodriguez
• Salvador Rodriguez (2)
• Brett Runlett
• David Runlett
• Allen Smith
• Marcus Tavares
• Martin Tchakirides
• David Totino
• Stephan Torquati
• Gene Trotman Jr.
• Kelly Turner
• Lars Vallin (& Xander)
• John Velleca
• Manuella Vensel
• Holly Wasilewski
• Holly Wasilewski (2)
• Alan Wenk
• Stephanija VanWilgen
• Matt Williams
• Michael Wuchek
• Michael Wuchek (2)
• David Zannelli
• David Zaweski