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CRIME FIGHTERS
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Officers, from left, Sgt. Dennis Godoy and Chief John Beshara of the Youngstown State University Police; second row, from left, Alki Santamas and Dave Moss, both of the Mahoning County Sheriff ’s office; and back row, Christian Hunter of Mill Creek MetroParks Police; unveiled YSU Police’s bike patrol unit Monday.
By Denise Dick
Youngstown
Youngstown State University Police have added a new weapon to their crime-fighting arsenal.
The department unveiled its new bike patrol Monday.
Chief John Beshara said the bikes, used for the first time during the YSU Summer Festival of the Arts last weekend, allow officers to navigate some areas more easily than they could in a cruiser.
The new vehicles provide another advantage, too.
“They allow us to reach out to the students and the community that we serve,” he said.
An officer on a bicycle may be more approachable than one inside of a cruiser.
“We’re also able to see and hear what’s going on around us,” the chief said.
Sgt. Dennis Godoy proposed the idea to Beshara earlier this year and plans were put in to motion.
“We’re able to easily penetrate a crowd, effectively and efficiently,” Godoy said.
He said the bike unit provides multiple benefits, from gas savings to the health benefits for officers and positive public relations between officers and the campus community.
The department bought three mountain bikes, equipped with lights and sirens, for $1,700 from Outdoor Recreation Equipment in Boardman.
Beshara said that officers will be assigned to the bicycle patrol on a voluntary basis and be trained by a certified bicycle patrol instructor or attend an approved basic police bicycle training/ instruction course.
To be considered for the bicycle unit, an officer must submit a letter of intent to either Godoy or Beshara.
The officer then must pass a multipart physical fitness exam to be eligible.
Bicycle patrol officers from other departments including the Mahoning County Sheriff’s Office, city police and Mill Creek MetroParks Police may be used to supplement the university’s bike patrol when needed.
Lieutenant Bill Ross, who leads the city police department’s six-member bike unit, said officers patrol primarily during downtown festivals and events.
“At the Panerathon at the Covelli Centre, the runners like the bike patrol to lead the route rather than the motorcycles because with the bikes they’re not breathing in the exhaust,” he said.
The unit also focuses on quality of life and nuisance issues that may be more difficult to spot from a cruiser such as drinking in public, the lieutenant said.