Montgomery County Sheriff’s Department (PA) starts bicycle patrols
By Dan Clark, May 7, 2015, The Reporter
Photo: Sheriff’s deputies stand near Montgomery County Sheriff Russell Bono while he announces the creation of a bike unit in his department during a press conference at Montgomery County Court House in Norristown Wednesday, May 6, 2015. The bikes were acquired from the Pottstown Police Department and maintained with funds from the county district attorneys office. Gene Walsh — digital first media
COURTHOUSE >> In addition to their duties of courtroom security, a unit of Montgomery County sheriff’s deputies will now be patrolling the county trails, public events and the block around the courthouse on bicycles.
“The purpose of this unit is kind of an extension of what we did last year. When sometimes courtrooms are down and we have extra deputies, rather than having them sit in the courthouse being nonproductive, last summer I had them walking around the courthouse in pairs as a visible deterrent,” Montgomery County Sheriff Russell Bono explained Wednesday.
Bono explained the new bicycle units will be able to cover more ground around the courthouse and they will also be used on the bike trails and public events. He said there has not been a surge in crime surrounding the courthouse or on the county trails.
“Crime is very low. People are generally very safe in those areas and we want to keep it that way,” Bono said.
In 2014, he explained, he and his staff thought it would be a good idea to start a bicycle unit, but came across one problem: The office didn’t have any bicycles.
However, the Pottstown Police Department was in the process of getting new bicycles and was willing to donate its old bicycles to the sheriff’s office.
“I have a fabulous working relationship with the sheriff,” Pottstown police Chief Richard Drumheller said.
He said anytime he needs the sheriff’s office for anything, they make themselves available and that when Bono reached out to him for the bicycles, he was happy to find a way to make it work.
After the approval of Pottsown Borough Council, the sheriff’s office did not have funds to make repairs to bicycles.
Bono said the office received a $5,000 corporate donation, but said the donor wished to remain anonymous.
Bono said that money was used to buy three new bicycles for the unit. He also said the district attorney’s office provided his office with the money to buy uniforms to go with the unit.
Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Ferman commended Bono and Chief Deputy Willie Richet for the program.
“We are focused here at the courthouse and certainly in law enforcement, on the safety of our community. Around the courthouse we think it’s very important that people feel safe and are safe. So having deputy sheriffs around this environment can go a very long way towards deterring crime, as the sheriff said, and it also goes a long way towards improving the relationship between law enforcement and the community,” Ferman said.
Pottstown Mayor Sharon Thomas said she was happy to help the county seat in any way possible.
“It’s always positive when Pottstown can collaborate with the county seat,” she said.