Bikers form patrol for park; James River Park's eyes and ears
By Michael Martz
Times-Dispatch
July 14, 2007
Clark Jones says he has helped a half-dozen people with directions recently while riding his mountain bike through the James River Park System in Richmond.
That was a courtesy, but now it's his job.
Jones is one of more than a dozen mountain bikers who are working with Richmond police and park officials to establish a park-watch program in James River Park. As many as 25 bikers are expected to form the new patrol.
"You guys just do what you love doing -- riding bikes, riding trails," Richmond parks director J.R. Pope told the first bike-patrol volunteers at their police training two weeks ago in Forest Hill Park. "At the same time, you help us. . . . You are going to be our eyes and ears."
The fledgling bike patrol is Richmond's first experiment with a program that has taken root around the United States in the past decade. There are 60 bike patrols in recreational areas around the world, but the James River program is the only one active in Virginia.
The patrols will assist people who are lost or injured, report potentially criminal behavior in the parks, and monitor the condition of the trails they ride -- but they won't enforce the law.
"They're not park rangers," said Spencer Powlison, who coordinates the national bikepatrol program for the International Mountain Bicycling Association. "They don't write tickets or arrest anyone. But they certainly have an indirect effect of driving away illicit activity."
The idea for the patrol came from the bikers themselves. They had just finished a monumental volunteer effort to build a trail along the north bank of the James that would form a loop with the trails on the South Side. They wanted the adjoining neighborhoods to know that they're good citizens.
"We see it as an extension of the trail [work] and our community service," said Greg Rollins, president of the Richmond-area chapter of the Mid-Atlantic Off-Road Enthusiasts, or MORE.
The chapter's vice president, Nate Ayers, is a Henrico County police officer who has taken the lead in organizing the patrol. Ayers, a former Richmond police officer, said he's convinced that the presence of mountain bikers in the city's park system has deterred illicit activity in previous hot spots.
"As we increase the good traffic, the bad traffic isn't feeling as comfortable," he said.
Patrol members have to be certified in First Aid and CPR, as well as the requirements of the National Mountain Bike Patrol. They have to wear helmets and red jerseys identifying themselves, and they must ride in groups of at least two during the day and three at night. They have to carry first-aid kits and cell phones to communicate with police if they see something wrong.
Swann has joined the patrol with his wife, Marianne. "It's just like any other neighborhood watch program, but it involves a city park."
The costs of the program are borne by the riders, who have gotten promises of help from the James River Outdoor Coalition and Friends of James River Park. The riders pay a membership fee to the national organization, buy a jersey and other equipment, and, in some cases, pay for training.
"The city hasn't spent any money on this," Rollins said.
The pilot program, which runs through Dec. 1, also will incorporate night-riding on weekends. Night-riding has become popular with local mountain bikers, who use high-intensity headlamps that allow them to ride with some speed on the park system's tricky trails.
"We do it anyway," said Bill Swann, one of the patrol's originators. "Why not put it together with the crime watch program?"
