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Police in District, area counties announce dirt bike crackdown Police in District, area counties announce dirt bike crackdown
(about 7 hours later)
Police from the District, Maryland and Virginia described Thursday how they plan to combat what has become a rite of passage as the days get warmer — the scourge of dirt bikers taking over the streets. Frustrated by swarms of off-road motorcycles, dirt bikes and all-terrain vehicles commandeering public streets, police from the District and across the region pledged on Thursday to target what they described as a dangerous public menace.
“Enough is enough,” said D.C. Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier at a news conference. “Enough is enough,” D.C. Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier said, joined at a news conference by top law enforcement officers from Maryland and Virginia.
Lanier said that she and representatives from seven other police agencies, along with the U.S. attorney’s office, have been conducting an investigation for several months regarding bikers. Efforts to stop the riders, however, stop short of officers chasing the vehicles, which authorities agreed is too dangerous. Lanier said that since last year, police have worked to “safely intercept the groups as they come in” to the District. “We have ways of getting them,” she said.
In the past year, Lanier said, 400 bikes have been confiscated, 100 arrests have been made and she expects to release 245 images to the public. She said the illegal dirt bikes that were seized will be destroyed. In that time, police in the District said they confiscated nearly 400 dirt bikes, ATVs and other similar vehicles, and made about 100 arrests. On Thursday, Lanier published photographs of 245 riders from nine group rides in recent weeks in the District, Maryland and Virginia, and urged the public’s help to identify them so they can be arrested. D.C. police offer a $250 reward for people who turn in illegal off-road vehicles and lead police to the operators.
[Police release hundreds of images] [D.C. police publish pictures of hundreds of dirt bike, ATV riders seeking public help to arrest them]
Swarms of dirt bike riders have taken over streets across the region, from Baltimore to the District and their suburbs, taunting police to stop them as they ride in packs, doing wheelies, weaving around traffic and ignoring traffic laws. Authorities said they plan to destroy 86 of the seized vehicles next month. “We want to turn these into scrap,” said Kevin Donahue, the District’s deputy mayor for public safety.
This week, some Shaw residents complained about seeing packs of illegal bikes and all-terrain vehicles commandeering streets. And in Prince George’s County, officials said they had two preventable fatalities that were connected to ATVs and dirt bikes. In recent years, large groups of dirt-bike riders have taken over streets in the District and the suburbs, riding in packs and doing wheelies, weaving around traffic and ignoring traffic laws. In December, dozens rode from Arlington County across the Key Bridge and filled Georgetown streets before heading onto the Beltway, slowing traffic to a crawl as they performed stunts and laid down so much rubber that plumes of smoke rose from the pavement.
[Dirt bikes swarm over District, Beltway as complaints to police pour in] This week, some Shaw residents complained about seeing packs of illegal bikes, and a D.C. police motorcycle officer was injured when an ATV struck his bike and dragged him across a road, police said.
Police in most areas, including Washington and Baltimore, forbid officers from chasing the bikes, as it is often more dangerous than simply leaving them alone. Authorities have tried many alternative methods to stop them, none of which have curtailed the activity. [Complaints pour in as dirt bikes take over streets in District, Beltway]
In Baltimore — where riders are immortalized in a British film called “12 O’Clock Boys” — lawmakers are proposing building a track to lure riders off the streets. Police there shut down streets along popular routes, and made it illegal for gas stations to sell to off-road vehicles. In the District, police offer a $250 reward to anyone with a tip leading to a bike that is seized, and use helicopters to track bikers as they ride through the city in hopes of seizing bikes at the end of the ride. On March 23, officials said a private ambulance contracted by the D.C. Department of Health was boxed in by bikers as it was transporting a critical-care patient to Children’s National Medical Center in Northwest.
[Outlaw dirt bikes take to streets after dark] Two people in Prince George’s County were killed last year in off-road dirt-bike or ATV accidents, and an officer with the Maryland-National Capital Park Police was badly injured last year when he got trapped between his cruiser and an ATV as he broke up a group illegally riding on trails.
But restrictions on police chases frustrate residents who view it as authorities giving tacit approval to illegal activity. They are frightened when caught in the middle of a pack, and complain, as they did last week, as 50 dirt bikes and ATVs rode through Shaw and right by a parked D.C. police cruiser. D.C. Attorney General Karl A. Racine called for tougher penalties for those arrested, who face misdemeanor charges that result in probation, fines or suspended jail sentences.
In December, dozens of motorcycles, dirt bikes and ATVs rode from Arlington County across the Key Bridge and into the District, roaring through NoMa and Georgetown and turning M Street into a drag strip. Frightened bystanders called 911, but the bikers were on the Capital Beltway before police could respond. [Outlawed dirt bikes take over District streets in shadow of Capital]
On the Beltway, bikers performed stunts and laid down so much rubber that plumes of smoke rose from the pavement, bringing traffic to a crawl. A motorcycle group said they were out for a weekend ride when bikers from Baltimore infiltrated and started performing dangerous maneuvers. Of 203 arrests made in the District since July 2013, Racine’s office, which prosecutes most misdemeanors, moved forward on 177 cases, securing convictions in 94. Twenty-three cases remain open, and others were either dismissed, dropped or suspects diverted to programs instead of jail. Officials said the majority of defendants received probation or fines; one went to jail.
Police were not able to make any arrests, even as motorists complained that they called 911 but got little to no response.
Today’s announcement included representatives from Prince George’s, Montgomery, Arlington and Alexandria counties, along with state police from Maryland and Virginia, the U.S. Park Police and the Maryland National-Capital Park Police.
Dana Hedgpeth and Lynh Bui contributed to this report.Dana Hedgpeth and Lynh Bui contributed to this report.