Markeshia Ricks Photo
Reyes, Campbell, Cain testify Tuesday. Below: 2017 crash.
The police department’s top brass is looking to change the perception of its “no chase” policy as a “do nothing” policy when it comes to the annual summer nuisance of dirt bike and ATV riders.
Police Chief Anthony Campbell and Assistant Chiefs Rachael Cain and Ontoniel Reyes conveyed that message when they were summoned to City Hall Tuesday evening for a public hearing on all of the department’s vehicle pursuit policies, including those that pertain to how the department handles pursuit by other police departments within the city limits. That meeting was held by the Board of Alders Public Safety Committee.
Furlow, who requested Tuesday’s public hearing.
Neighbors have been up in arms about the annual disturbance of masked dirt bike and quad riders who thumb their noses at police officers and flout traffic laws, creating dangerous road conditions and generally disturbing the peace. Amity/Beverly Hills Alder Richard Furlow requested the public hearing.
No citizens came to testify about the problem at the hearing, where alders questioned the three chiefs.
Campbell reiterated that the police department’s policy is to not actively engage in chasing down dirt bike and ATV riders. He said that doesn’t mean that police work to stop them isn’t happening.
A big complaint from neighbors is that, when they see 50 or more riders are tearing down Ella T. Grasso Boulevard or Whalley Avenue, they either don’t see any cops at all or the police are just sitting still watching the riders go by, middle fingers in the air.
“A lot of what you see in real time is seeing us not pursue dirt bikes,” Assistant Chief Cain said. “What the public doesn’t see is the police departments all over this state working on this issue. This problem isn’t specific to New Haven.”
Campbell said that the department’s intelligence efforts are important to getting dirt bike riders off the streets. That means monitoring social media where riders post their plans and show off for their friends. But he admitted that the department hasn’t always been good about letting the public know when it has arrested riders — nearly 40 last year — and confiscated bikes. (Click here to read about another way cops lessened dirt-bike riding on East Side streets.)
He also said neighbors are having an impact by providing tips about where they see riders fueling up and the big trucks where they haul their bikes and quads into town.
“I know it’s frustrating,” he said. “It’s something that I deal with every summer too.”
But he said, while there are other police departments in the state that pursue such riders, New Haven believes that’s a bad practice. It creates an even more dangerous situation for police and the public over lawbreaking that is not a felony crime. People could get hurt or killed as a result of a chase.
“Now, if one of those dirt bike, or ATV riders, shoots a citizen or a police officer, we will pursue that rider to the ends of the earth,” Campbell said.
“People forget that police officers have to protect the good guys and the bad guys,” said Quinnipiac Meadows Alder Gerald Antunes, Public Safety Committee co-chair and a retired New Haven police captain. “The police officer’s job is to preserve life.”
Antunes: Cops preserve life.
Beaver Hills Alder Brian Wingate complimented the police department for its discipline in dealing with dirt bike riders. Wingate lives on The Boulevard, site of many dirt bike escapades. He said he believes that the no chase policy is the right one for the city.
Wingate related one instance in which his neighbors made sure that a driver who hit a dirt bike rider didn’t just drive away after striking and killing a rider; he recalled it was a gruesome scene.
“I believe the fatalities would be unimaginable if police officers chased these ATVs and dirt bike riders,” he said.
Wingate also noted that when he came on the board the police department had its hands full trying to stop violent crime. That was back in 2011 when the city had 34 murders. He said it shouldn’t go unnoticed that the biggest complaints in the city now are about traffic, not violent crime.
“That crime has trickled down,” he said. “What’s on the plate now is traffic. But people have to remember that we had to get to that place.”
Wingate: Violent crime way down; traffic is on the menu.
Wingate's view is typical. He supports the lawbreakers not the taxpayers and residents. Masked bikers and quad riders terrorizing drivers and pedestrians - endangering people? And all he can say is that his neighbors made sure a driver who hit one of these thugs, didn't drive away? Was he trying to drive away? Maybe if we had more of them hit, we'd have fewer of them. As for the cops - please. Your intelligence operations from around the state and here in the city hasn't stopped a single rider, has it? If so, prove it.