Lake Township: 2 bikes bought for police patrols

Patrolman Rick Baldwin of the Lake Township Police Department takes a new bike out for a spin in Friendship Park.

Lake Township police for the first time will take to the road with helmets and water bottles.

The department purchased two bicycles last week with a $1,000 donation from a South Toledo security firm.

"It's a good way to get our officers in closer contact with our community and to get them out of the cars," Police Chief E. Mark Hummer said.

Kim Klewer, president of Assets Protection Corp., presented the township trustees with the donation last Tuesday.

"It's wonderful if you look at police community relations," Mr. Klewer, a former Perrysburg councilman, said. "It promotes close contact with the community, and Lake Township does have urban areas where bike patrols make sense."

Several other nearby suburban communities have bike patrols, including Perrysburg, Perrysburg Township, Sylvania Township, and Wauseon in Fulton County.

Four officers have volunteered to work the new Lake Township patrol, and the duty will be rotated among them, Chief Hummer said.

"We'll use them in the villages of Millbury and Moline and the Eastpointe housing subdivision," the chief said. "Along with the mountain bikes, we got the bike racks, headlights, water bottles, suspension for extended use, and all the safety equipment and uniforms."

The new bike patrol will be seen at special events like the Millbury Ox Roast.

"We are happy we found a corporate partner that saw the need," Chief Hummer said. "Mid-year, our budgets are set and it's hard to appropriate funds to budget this type of equipment."

Contact Ignazio Messina at:

imessina@theblade.com

or 419-724-6088.