Police aim to make Halloween a treat for kids
By Craig Anderson, Delaware State News, Updated October 27, 2014
CHESWOLD — With so many pretend ghosts and goblins about to roam the streets in a quest for treats, law enforcement is taking a pragmatic approach to Halloween night.
Throughout the state, police officers will frequent high traffic areas to cut down on risks involved with a night full of added movement and excitement, most of it occurring near dusk and later.
In Cheswold, kids and their parents can expect to see two town police officers pedaling around on bikes, especially in the areas of Commerce, New and Main streets.
Chief Christopher Workman will take to two wheels, along with Pfcs. Susan Kline and Louis Simms. Two officers will be on bike patrols Thursday and Friday nights, with the other surveying the scene in a Cheswold PD vehicle.
This will not be a stealthy, undercover approach, authorities said.
“We want to take a position of high visibility and want to be seen,” Chief Workman said. “If it’s known that we’re out there, then some of the juvenile stuff that goes on might not happen. There’s no telling when we’re going to pop around the corner.”
Last year, there were no issues in Cheswold during the Halloween season.
“It was quiet,” Chief Workman said.
To stave off any potential problems on the so-called “Mischief Night” on Thursday, Chief Workman said the three-officer department will continue to move throughout town on bikes and patrol vehicles. The same tactics will be used Friday on Halloween.
Cheswold enacted its bike patrol on July 7, and it has continued throughout the fall.
The Dover Police Department will deploy more officers on Halloween night, along with added staff before and after to stave off what’s considered a season of high spirits in many truly bad ways.
“Despite all of the monsters and creatures roaming the city’s neighborhoods while trick-or-treating, they’re far from the scariest people on the roads during Halloween,” Dover PD spokesman Cpl. Mark Hoffman said in a news release earlier this week.
“Drunk drivers put themselves and others at risk of injury, death, and arrest after getting behind the wheel after drinking too much. Halloween events and parties throughout the area only add to the problem of drunk driving.”
The Halloween season is the kickoff to a series of parties and promotions for the holiday season that carries into the winter months, often involving alcohol, authorities said.
Thus, the Dover PD is planning to crack down on drunken drivers and ask “patrol officers to enhance DUI enforcement efforts during this time in order to help keep our roadways safe,” Cpl. Hoffman said.
There were 34 DUI arrests made in Kent County between Oct. 25 and Nov. 3, 2013.
“At this time of the year we begin to see more parties, along with business establishments offering certain deals and promotions,” Cpl. Hoffman said. “We want the public to know that as an agency we will be active in enforcing roadway laws and remain vigilant with actions and operations that promote the public’s safety.”
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 48 percent of all motor vehicle traffic deaths in 2012 on Halloween night (6 p.m. Oct. 31 to 5:59 a.m. Nov. 1) involved a drunk driver.