Avon police add bike patrol, community resource officer
By Carissa Woytach | The Chronicle-Telegram, May 23, 2018
AVON OH— Avon police are rolling with the times to meet residents’ needs, implementing a bicycle patrol unit and community resource officer to be in closer contact with Avon residents.
Both programs are meant to build relationships between officers and residents, public information officer Jim Drozdowski explained. The bike patrol, which will start this weekend and run as weather permits 7 a.m. to 11 p.m., is meant to start a bond with children in the neighborhood and promote bike safety, while the community service officer will assist residents and build rapport in neighborhoods.
Bike patrol
The bike patrol, spearheaded by Patrolman David Layne, who has been with the department for 15 years, will concentrate its patrols in neighborhoods and areas difficult to do by car — such as Avon Commons or along trails. It also will assist with crowd control during events like the Avon Eagle Run on Saturday, the Memorial Day parade and the Duct Tape festival.
“We can do everything a motorized unit can do, the only exception is obviously we can’t transport anybody, but we can do everything else that they can,” Layne said.
There are four officers on the bike unit, with plans to add two more. Officers received certification from the International Police Mountain Bike Association through a course offered at Notre Dame College in South Euclid. While there, officers practiced riding slowly and maneuvering, to simulate riding through a busy street or parade. They also did a 20-mile night ride.
Having the bike unit also will serve to increase the officers’ visibility in the neighborhoods, and break down barriers between residents and officers while teaching younger residents about bike safety. While someone may be intimidated to talk to an officer while they are in their patrol car, seeing them out on bikes is meant to humanize the officers, Drozdowski said.
“The big thing, I think, is community acceptance,” Drozdowski said. “It’s just another variation on how we do law enforcement work. Police departments have to evolve, and Dave spearheaded it. He feels that this is something the community is going to embrace because of the age of the community and the growth of the community, (bikes) are more out in the forefront for a lot of people than they were years ago. So I think this is going to be a win-win for everybody.”
Community service officer
While the bike patrol is meant to get officers out in the community, the community service officer is a civilian position, designed to free up patrol units by handling service calls that can put a strain on daily patrol units. For example, it used to take more than four hours for a patrol to check all the vacation homes on one side of the city during peak times, according to Layne. Now that’s up to the CSO.
“The community wants this type of stuff done, the police department wants to do it, but they’ve got to balance the time between the officers doing patrol work — that’s where this community service officer is going to come in,” Drozdowski said.
Community service officer Nick Rennette, 19, is an Avon native and one of the department’s dispatchers. While he is too young to officially join the force, he is getting a taste of what the job would eventually entail as a CSO.
“I’ve always wanted to be a police officer,” Rennette said. “I’m only 19, you have to be 21 to be a police officer, and I’ve been a dispatcher here and then this job opened up and they asked me if I was interested in doing that too. So it kind of just worked out for both the department and me because I enjoy doing that — I’m not in the office all day like I am in dispatch — so it’s more fun for me, and it’s another step for me becoming a police officer.”
“One thing that’s unique with Nick is he pretty much knew everybody here at the department, prior to even coming in to be a dispatcher or wanting to do the CSO position, so I think that helped him.” Layne said. “Everybody treats him like the little brother, but he knows he’s part of the family now.”
Rennette said he is surprised not only by the number of residents who go on vacation at the same time, but how observant neighbors are.
“I’m surprised how many people go on vacation at once,” Rennette laughed. “Definitely how observant all the neighbors are because I have people coming up and … thanking me because they appreciate seeing police officers in the neighborhood. So that’s good to know that they’re keeping an eye out in their neighborhoods.”
Besides checking for open windows or helping residents who have locked their keys in their cars, Rennette also helps direct traffic at crashes and will wait for tow trucks — further freeing patrol units to either investigate the crash or respond to other calls.
While both programs still are in their infancy, Drozdowski said the department will continue to evaluate them and have a better understand after the summer as to what works and what does — but said he thinks both programs will be assets for the department and around for a while.
“We’re going to kind of walk before we run — (Rennette) will do a lot more walking, (Layne) will do a lot more riding, but it’ll establish a baseline to really look at and say ‘OK to re-evaluate it, what do we need to do?’”