Police will once again ride bikes through Sharpsburg
By CHRISTINE MANGANAS, the TribLive, Monday, April 24, 2017,
Photo: by CHRISTINE MANGANAS | FOR THE TRIBUNE-REVIEW; Sharpsburg police Chief Tom Stelitano stands with the new bike purchased for Officer Brett Carb to use on patrol.
Sharpsburg PA -- Just a little oil on the chains and air in the tires is all the Sharpsburg Police Department's old bicycles needed to get back on the road.
Police Chief Tom Stelitano also added a new $1,200 two-wheeler to the force he is putting back on the streets, primarily during special events like the Memorial Day parade and Open Streets Sharpsburg in June. But Stelitano also plans to have the bike police riding around Sharpsburg streets and in its parks on summer days.
“I want these officers to be friendly with the kids and the community and to know that we are not the bad guys” Stelitano said. “We are the good guys, and when they see us patrolling on bikes, I want them to know that they can wave and say hello.”
Officer Brett Carb volunteered to spearhead the patrol and go through the training needed to get certified by the state. Carb was hired full-time by the borough in February.
“It's a flat, small town where you can get places quickly,” Carb said. “It's much easier to talk to people and say hello when you don't have to roll the car window down and stop traffic. It gets us face-to-face with the community.”
When on duty, Carb said he takes the bike out for about an hour to familiarize himself with it and get in shape for training.
“When you have all this gear on its tough to hop on a bike,” he said. “I don't want to go for training and be the officer out of shape.”
Sharpsburg hasn't seen bike patrol officers on its streets for more than a decade. In 2001, Stelitano traveled to Harrisburg to receive his own certification, bringing it to the borough for the first time.
“I actually used to use a bike back in the day to go out at night and patrol a little bit and try and catch some people,” he said.
Several officers will eventually be trained to ride bike patrols. The training wasn't easy when he did it 16 years ago, so Stelitano is interested to see what Carb and other officers think after they go through it.
“On my very last day of training, we rode on this crazy hike up the side of a mountain and then had to come back down. It was a five or six hour ride and I got a flat at the very top of the mountain and had to change it,” Stelitano said.
Luckily, his officers don't have to travel to the state capitol to get certified. Departments at Mount Lebanon, the University of Pittsburgh and Ross now offer training that ranges from three days to a week.
To receive certification, they must pass classroom work, know how dismantle their bikes and put them back together, and go through an obstacle course where they must know how to dismount the bike as well as use it for protection. The goal is to have the officers trained within the next month, Stelitano said.
Members of the Sharpsburg council agreed that bringing the patrol back would create better communication between residents and officers.
“I think it's a great way to get their faces out there and develop relationships with kids especially,” Councilwoman Brittany Reno said. “This is a very pedestrian-heavy community and I think it's a fabulous idea.”
Christine Manganas is a freelance writer.