Many people gathered around to see the 14 police officers from all over Northern New Jersey make perfect figure eights with their motorcycles outside of West New York’s City Hall on 60th Street on Sept. 28 at 11:30 a.m., the same week that the town installed a motorcycle squad of their own.
These officers, including two from West New York, were trainees from the Passaic County Academy’s Motorcycle Officer Training class. The officers had to visit different communities and give demonstrations before their graduation from the two-week course on Sept. 29.
West New York has been sending officers to the course for the past two years.
“The class was designed to help deal with high traffic areas like West New York,” said Sergeant Michael Zitt, the officer in charge of the town’s new motorcycle unit.
Getting started
According to Public Safety Commissioner Sal Vega, the town started with the idea of a motorcycle squad about five years ago.
“We have had motorcycles for many years,” said Police Director Joseph Pelliccio. “But we have never had our own squad.”
West New York Mayor Albio Sires first became aware of the benefits of a motorcycle squad while visiting his parents in Miami Beach.
“I saw that they were very effective in an area that has as many cars as Miami Beach,” said Sires. “I thought it would also be effective in West New York.”
Before the introduction of the motorcycle squad about a week ago, the few motorcycles that the department did have were only used for special details, such as escorting funeral processions.
“When the motorcycle police officers were spread out in different divisions, it was difficult to bring them together,” said Zitt, who has been on a motorcycle for the past two years.
Now the motorcycles will be out on the streets seven days a week, from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m.
“One of the reasons crime has gone down in West New York is because we have the ability to respond to all of the needs of our residents and because we have a very visible police presence,” said Vega.
Officers are able to volunteer for the squad, but an extensive look is then taken into their past job history.
“We look at [the motorcycle squad] as kind of an elite unit,” said Deputy Chief Thomas O’Donnell. “We are very selective.”
The officers do not have to already know how to ride a motorcycle to be trained for the unit.
“Some of the officers that go into training have never ridden a bicycle before,” said O’Donnell, who explained that the officers receive their learner’s permit and then get their license through the class. “After the two weeks in the class they feel very comfortable riding.”
“It is the school itself that makes the rider out of them,” added Pelliccio.
Right now the unit has 11 officers and nine bikes.
“We will be up to 10 motorcycles by the end of the year,” said Pelliccio.
What they can do
The new unit is within the traffic division of the department and is used mostly to control traffic, patrol the parks and perform special details.
“The motorcycle officers wear the same equipment and are capable of doing any job that a normal police officer does,” said O’Donnell. “But they have the added benefit of mobility.”
“Because of the mobility of the bike we can get to problems much quicker,” said Zitt. “Especially at big events like parades or OpSail 2000.”
Right now, Pelliccio said that the town is focusing on the traffic outside of the school buildings in the morning. However, they are also working to curtail double parking and traffic on Bergenline Avenue.
“We have an officer out at 7 a.m. for the people who choose not to stop for school buses,” said Pelliccio.
The department is also starting to work with the Board of Education to follow school buses to make sure people are stopping for them, and to talk to the bus drivers to find out which street corners are hard for them to turn on because of illegally parked cars.
The bikes are also key to navigating the town’s parks.
“They are also able to get in and out of the parks,” said Vega. “Especially on Boulevard East where there are a lot of trails and walkways.”
Vega also mentioned that the motorcycles are good in working on special details.
“When Governor [Christine] Whitman came, we escorted her from the turnpike into West New York,” said Vega. “The governor was very impressed by our motorcycle squad.”
However, once the weather begins to drop below 30 degrees, the bikes will become ineffective, but Pelliccio said that the squad would still be utilized.
“Just because the bikes are down, doesn’t mean the unit is down,” said Zitt, who explained that the officers can then go into patrol cars or on walking duty. “There is always something for us to do.” “The [motorcycle squad] complements the force very well,” said Sires.