Residents raise funds to purchase new sirens for police bike patrol
By Jessica Bruha, Norman Transcript, September 15, 2015
University of Oklahoma home football games, the Medieval Fair, Norman Music Festival and Fourth of July at Reaves Park are just some of the events that the Norman Police Department’s bike team patrols.
They are events that bring large amounts of people in one area, making it difficult for those in police cruisers to patrol, but can present problems for the bike team, too. There’s one problem in particular that residents are taking the initiative to help fix.
The department’s bikes are outfitted with red and blue lights, making them easy to see, but more often than not, they are difficult to hear.
“Sometimes we’re trying to holler at people to get out of the way,” said Officer Thomas Zermeno, a member of the bicycle team.
The bike team had some older sirens, he said, but those had major problems with wiring and durability. Part of the problem was water getting into the speakers when the bikes were cleaned, he said. The other part of the problem was the sound the sirens made.
“They sounded more like an ice cream truck than a police car,” Zermeno said.
Shawn Creger, a graduate of Citizen’s Police Academy 8, said when they were learning about the department’s bike patrol during a class, she saw they had flashing lights but no sirens.
“It got me thinking,” Creger said. “I asked Officer Zermeno, ‘Would you like to have some kind of siren on the bikes?’ and he said, ‘Absolutely.’”
That’s when she decided to raise the money for all 16 of the department’s bicycles. So far, enough money has been raised to purchase 12 sirens, she said Tuesday. Each siren is $220 and only four more sirens are needed.