TOLEDO POLICE MTB UNIT HELPS CUT CRIME RATE

TOLEDO - Though only in existence since October, 2002, the Toledo Police
Division's Mountain Bike (MTB) Unit contributed toward a 1.6 drop in the
crime rate last year.

"The bike unit has had a tremendous impact," said Police Chief Mike
Navarre. "They've made many arrests and confiscated very large quantities
of drugs."

Shrouded by night, the nine-member unit cycles across the city making
arrests during its 7 p.m. to 3 a.m. shift, when criminal activity is at its
peak, according to Lt. Randy Pepitone, the unit's commander.

"That's when people are out drinking, hanging out. We get more neighborhood
complaints then because people are trying to sleep," he said.

Two command officers and seven patrolmen, wearing police uniforms, ride
their bikes from the station to "anywhere there's complaints," mostly of
drug trafficking and gangs, said Pepitone. Two of the officers are assigned
to a prisoner transport vehicle where suspects are booked and paperwork
processed near a targeted area.

"We won't tie up the regular district crews that way," said Pepitone.

MTB officers have made a total of 2,183 arrests since the unit's inception,
said Pepitone. The unit makes an average of eight arrests per day, and as
many as 15, he said.

"We've recovered over $100,000 in drug-related money. It's just been
phenomenal," said Pepitone, who has worked as a patrolman in inner city, an
undercover sergeant in vice narcotics, and a gang unit commander.

The unit is effective because it arrives in a neighborhood quietly and in
the dark, when suspects are more likely to be on the lookout for marked
police cruisers.

"They're not looking for bikes. We're a lot more quiet. We've been able to
pull right up next to someone who doesn't even realize we're there until
they turn and see us."

The unit has even made approaches during actual drug deals, he said.

"We've made arrests as the dealer is handing the dope to the customer, we
come up on them that fast."

The darkness allows the unit to hide further in the shadows of houses and
wait for unsuspecting criminals in frequently targeted areas to make their
move.

"When we hit an area more than once, which we do all the time, they have
their lookouts and it becomes a game - who's going to outsmart who. But
we've been pretty successful. They're still looking for cruisers. They're
not expecting us to come between houses. They don't hear us, they don't see
us," said Pepitone.

"And they can come in from all four directions," said Navarre. "If these
guys try to flee, there's no where to go."

In East Toledo, a frequent target area is the Weiler Homes public housing
project on Fassett Street.

"We get frequent complaints there, just like in the inner city. We conduct
surveillance, and try to address problems there," said Pepitone.

Biking the beat

The unit responds mostly to public complaints received by community service
officers, said Pepitone.

"If we're in an area and we hear a call on our operations channel, we'll
take care of it. But mostly, we respond to complaints community service
officers get from residents. Or a district commander, who notices a lot of
calls about drug trafficking, will send them to the deputy chief, who
passes them to me to check the areas out."

Though the most frequent complaints center on drug and gang activities, the
unit also responds to areas hit by thefts and robberies, said Navarre.

"We've used them for robbery stake-outs, in business areas hit by thefts,
for nuisance complaints," said Navarre. "They go out and take care of
business."

Though it receives complaints mostly from community service officers,
Navarre says the MTB Unit does not operate under the community policing banner.

"This is strictly an enforcement unit. They're not out there to put smiles
on people's faces, or as public relations for the city. They're out there
to put people in jail, and they do that every night," said Navarre.

The unit, physically fit from its daily routine on the bikes, cycles with
ease from one part of the city to the next, said Pepitone.

"We've ridden to Monroe and Talmadge, then to Heatherdowns and Reynolds.
It's not a problem. All of us are pretty much fit."

When it snows or the temperatures drop too low, marked cruisers are used
instead of bikes.

"If there's any ice or snow on the pavement, I assign the guys to marked
cars. So long as it's warm out," the unit forges ahead in the rain, he said.

"If it's raining too hard, we aren't going to be on bikes because of the
safety factor of possibly slipping and falling, or getting hit by a car
that can't see us."

Officers undergo a week-long bike training class before joining the unit,
he said. Each month, MTB Unit officers also spend a day practicing firearms
training on bikes, self-defense and other training exercises.

Learning to repair bikes that break down is also part of the training process.

"The last part of training is bike maintenance, and fixing the chain. When
we started out, we were having four to five flat tires per night. Then we
purchased some liners and heavy duty inner tubes, so it's not much of a
problem anymore."

The unit has been so successful, the division is considering expanding the
unit, according to Deputy Chief Derrick Diggs.

"Tentative plans now is for us to find more people for the unit," said
Diggs. "They would be working different hours than the current shift. What
those hours would be is still being debated. We're thinking about bringing
those officers in a little bit earlier than the current unit. We want to
see what some of the crime patterns are, where some of the neighborhood
problems are, and try and effectively use those officers during those time
periods."