IPMBA News

Leesburg police hope to launch Carver Heights bike patrol

by Millard Ives, September 19, 2015, The Daily Commercial

LEESBURG (VA) — Carver Heights residents might not immediately see these police officers rolling into their neighborhood.

But, in an attempt to prevent crime in the Leesburg neighborhood that has seen three unsolved shootings in the last two months, police hope to start patrolling Carver Heights on bicycles.

“It will allow officers to be more covert,” police Lt. Joe Iozzi said.

He added that bikes are easier to conceal than cars, and they have the ability to travel where cars cannot.

No timetable was set on when the bike patrolling would be launched, but Iozzi said Friday they are now trying to identify officers who are eligible or interested in bike patrol. The officers will have to go through required training, and bicycle equipment, including shorts, will have to be purchased.

Although the department has never had a bicycle unit, Iozzi said the department does have bikes officers have used before to patrol. If the unit is successful, it could also run through other Leesburg neighborhoods.

Officers on bikes would also provide more personal contact with residents as opposed to police in patrol cars with the windows rolled up. This is vital, considering the idea popped up from a community meeting at Zion Hope Baptist Church in Carver Heights on Thursday as one possible solution to help deter crime.

The meeting comes after three people were shot in the neighborhood since July — three of five shootings throughout the city in that time span.

Police have already beefed up their vehicle patrol in the area since the shootings.

But Iozzi said some victims have been uncooperative, and they hoped the community meeting would help lead to a better ongoing dialogue with residents in reporting crime.

Another possible fix was to extend the department’s Coffee with a Cop meetings to Carver Heights. The project allows Leesburg police to sit, drink coffee and talk with residents.

About 20 people, including Leesburg city commissioners and the mayor, attended the meeting. None of the residents could be reached for comment.

Thursday’s meeting was the second such one hosted at the church this year. Police had a meeting in February to discuss how to make the neighborhood safer following a week riddled with crime that included an armed robbery and a 17-year-old foster child being lured into a home and gang raped.

Police pressed residents at the meeting to report more suspicious activity, and residents pushed officers to build stronger relationships with the community.

Leesburg City Commissioner John Christian attended the meeting and said he thought it was a good start discussing better dialogue in a neighborhood that feels left out the city’s major plan.

He said there needs to be more of a mutual respect between residents and officers and said officers need better training on the “many cultural issues that face the diverse” city.

Resident Norval Scott asked at the February meeting why the Coffee with a Cop event wasn’t being held in the Carver Heights neighborhood.

He said he would like police to present more opportunities to give residents a better perception of the officers.

“We have this mentality that every police is a bad person, and that’s not the case,” Scott said.

Anyone with information about any of the shootings can call the Leesburg Police Department at 352-728-9862 or Crimeline at 1-800-423-8477, where callers can remain anonymous.

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