Online fundraiser for OPD bike patrol
By WOWT Channel 6, October 17, 2018
Police officers are back on two wheels to patrol the pavement on Omaha public trails.
"It's nice to know that there's people there watching,” said Jim Haley, who visits Stinson Park in Aksarben Village two to three times a day.
The requests for park and trail safety grow but the tools to enforce it lack.
"As we move away from taking our cars everywhere and people ride their bikes, walk, jog, whatever...I think it's important to have a sense of safety in your own community,” said Jen Bauer, president of the Aksarben/Elmwood Park Neighborhood Association.
Bauer saw bike patrol officers riding around TD Ameritrade Park and the Old Market and wondered why they couldn't keep an eye on her neighborhood.
"I thought, 'Aksarben has parks. Aksarben has trails. How do we get those sort of patrols?'” said Bauer.
"You can see all the kids and there's a bunch of young people around here and it's probably a good idea just to have some patrols around here,” said Haley.
So Bauer started an online fundraiser to gather donations for Omaha police to purchase bikes, helmets, and bike carriers.
The goal is to raise enough for two new bikes. The movement is already halfway to that point.
"We can use those funds and do things a little bit quicker than waiting for it in the next year's budget or potentially a different grant or something like that,” said Vanessa Urbach, crime prevention specialist for the Omaha Police Department. “We want them to know that you can use the trail when it's open and that we'll have OPD out there to make sure that the riff-raff is gone."
Each bike costs $1,600. They've raised enough to purchase one, but are still asking for donations.
Police have five patrol bikers for each shift and they hope to increase that to nine.
Bauer is accepting donations at the fundraiser's web page. One Omaha is matching each donation.