Police spoke in praise of bike
Jamie Wright, far right, owner of Gorham Bike & Ski, donated a Trek police bike to the Kennebunk Police Department. Pictured with Wright are (L to R) Lt. Eric O’Brien, Gorham Bike & Ski Kennebunk store manager Jon Foster and employee Sawyer Bickford, Sgt. Darrell Eaton, and Community Resource Officer Ashley Desrochers. [Donna Buttarazzi/Seacoastonline]
By Donna Buttarazzi, Seacoast Online, August 23, 2018
KENNEBUNK - When the fleet of six Kennebunk Police Department bicycles were dropped off for yearly maintenance at Gorham Bike and Ski last spring, store manager Jon Foster noticed that some were in pretty rough shape.
Jamie Wright, owner of Gorham Bike & Ski talked to Foster, and they came up with a plan that would breathe some new life into the aging fleet used throughout the summer by Kennebunk’s community officers.
“I came down here and was talking to Jon, and saw the police bikes in the shop, and they were all pretty old and some were in pretty rough shape. I knew Trek made a police bike, so we talked and decided to donate one to the department,” Wright said.
The new bike is an X-Caliber series bike by Trek specifically made for police departments, with features needed for bike patrol officers. Some of the special features include a sophisticated shock system, a cargo rack, a solid kickstand and high end hydraulic brakes, according to Foster.
Valued at $1,300, it’s a big step up from the current models used by the officers, Sgt. Darrell Eaton said.
“It’s definitely a little more rugged than what they have had.They should get quite a few years out of it,” Foster noted.
The Kennebunk Police Department community resource officers ride the fleet of six bikes daily along the beaches and in the downtown areas throughout the summer and into the fall.
Eaton worked with Wright on the specs for the bike, which then went before the Board of Selectmen for approval of the donation. Members of the Kennebunk Police Department including Eaton, Lt. Eric O’Brien and reserve officer Ashley Desrochers recently picked up the new bike. Desrochers is the lucky officer assigned to the new set of wheels and she’s excited to try it out.
“It’s going to make my days a little easier, we put anywhere from 15 to over 20 miles a day on our bikes depending on the day,” she said.
“This is quite a big step up from what we have, we’re really grateful to Jamie and Jon for this donation, this is going to be a lot more comfortable for our officers,” Eaton said.