Cleveland city councilman Zack Reed says police are not doing enough to control dirt bike riders illegally using city streets. And he says that is leading to more brazen behavior from the riders.
Police officials say a new policy is on the way. From Ohio Public Radio station WKSU, Kevin Niedermier reports.
For safety reasons Cleveland police are not allowed to chase riders who driven recklessly, but now a growing number of them are aggressively harassing drivers.
Reed says it’s time to crack down on this behavior.
Reed: “We’ve got to set up some sting operations, I mean we know what neighborhoods they’re going into, we know what communities they’re going into. And when we catch them, when we do we’ve got to have some strong policies behind how we’re going to deal with this. It can’t be some slap on the wrist, no, we’ve got to come down hard on these individuals.”
Reed says riders are now carrying guns and drugs because they know they can get away with it.
Cleveland police spokeswoman Jennifer Ciaccia says the department is working on a new policy for dealing with the riders.
Meanwhile, the city is building a dirt bike park backers hope will draw some riders off the streets