This is getting quickly out of hand; I've seen this bike doing high-speeds on sidewalks tso close to innocent young children playing it is SCARY.

Anon, if they hit your car, can't you call 911 and report? This is insane!

There was a guy with a white scarf draped over his head and around his face on an atv on theEdgewood park center median across from kids and ice cream truck about 6:45 p.m. tonight. There were several other bikers doing wheelies and speeding the wrong way, also along side the ice cream truck where many cars,parents and children were! They were also circling around towards Brownell. This is the same group I have seen at the Ferry and State Street gas station (Tuesday around 6:15 p.m.?) cutting through to the park on Chatham. Can the police catch them and confiscate or fine them?

You have to go for the pack leaders. Which are lolo. Gabe canestri and expo from east haven. Once you cut off the snakes head the others will take for example

It seems like the best way we could get attention as a community is to keep calling the police: local police officer, non emergency number, 911, depending on the circumstances, and giving as many details about the guys as possible. Let us call, call call and call, as soon and often as we can.

Im giving you the information on some of the leaders. Get warrants for there bikes. Gabe canestri is always riding his yamaha 125 blue and white dirt bike behind the hole in the wall mc building

I have given them information as to where the bikes come from and what they do, nothing gets done. I even know of a new spot where a bike is kept(across the street from Milford Barrel behind condo). I used to call the police but when nothing changes I feel as if they are laughing after the call.

This is happening again all over the city. When you call the police it gets ignored. Over here by Edgewood park is crazy. They take over the park and harass people. I've seen these bikes racing up and down Hubinger street. They hide the bides and ATVs in the backyard near 79 Hubinger. The police know this. I've seen the riders ride right past police cars and nothing is done. Are we just going to give our city to these kids? If so, lets make it legal to drive recklessly and leave it at that. Major Harp should do something.

This is a huge concern. Especially when they start riding with white scarfs over their faces so that our pics can't identify them. Police, I hope you're paying attention to how many comments this is garnering. Your attention is needed NOW.

I did... I wasn't going to wait around for an officer to come by, the cops are busy as hell today and the kid was LONG GONE.

I called the police to let them know what happened and the direction they were moving in, etc.

This is REALLY scary. I mean, they were going really @#$% fast!!!!

Sure, calling helps make sure the officers are aware of it, but honestly, it's a VERY difficult thing for them to stop since these people are so brazen as to drive down the wrong side of the road. An officer isn't going to want to create a highspeed chase with these idiots. It just sucks.

The best bet is to follow them from a distance and try and find where they hang out as a group, but a police officer will have to do that because if they're just sitting around they can't arrest or stop them without having an actual reason.

Someone buys and sells these bikes. How about registration? How about making them carry insurance. We should all be worried, if one of them damages your car, who's going to pay to fix it? You can't hold these minors responsible. We should all be worried about this.

I don't think that the police officers are sitting back laughing about it and completely ignoring it because they don't care. It's a REALLY difficult situation. What are they supposed to do? Are they going to chase them through downtown traffic creating a potential fatal accident not only for the riders but for an innocent motorist?

The ONLY thing you can do is require registration which would allow police officers to stop people who are NOT moving and ask for registration and if no registration, they get ticketed, etc. That said, I think this is a state thing and not a city thing (petitioning for requirement of registration of these small vehicles).

Registration and plates would be the #1 best case scenario, so instead of inundating the insanely overworked police officers, lets petition the law makers. It's the ONLY way this will get done.

Did you know that the police force is short about 20 officers and each graduating class/ retiring period is loosing MORE! The officers themselves are doing the best they can.

Ok... So my username is set to ANON but it's displaying as Cap'n Confused.. No clue why.

I see them coming on weekends towing trailors with quads and bikes on them. Not juveniles. more laws is a joke, enforce the laws NOW!

If this was a drunk driver they could be held liable. I think this is equally as dangerous if not more, because they are planning/choosing this behavior and are morally impaired!

Yesterday (Sunday), 2 bikes sped down Lexington at around 60 mi. Is there any point to calling the police when they obviously will be long gone before I even pick up the phone?

It's always good to report just so that the city has record of how often its happening and where so that can maybe create some location / time correlations to either help crack down OR to petition for better control of them. I would call with the tone that you know they're long gone and don't need a police officer to come to your home for a statement but wanted to make a report of it and note the direction they were going.

Cap'n confused sounds like a cop. I dont think calling the police is the answer, police knowing the neighborhoods and being proactive is the answer. Police policing, imagine... Once again we will have to wait until someone dies before another BS PR stunt put on by the city. We cant get speeding enforced, loud motorcycles, red light running, garbage dumping NOTHING. Living here and paying the NH mill rate for the services we get is the biggest joke of my life. And yeah, I was awakened around 4:30 AM by some loser on a loud bike coming home from a weekend of partying, should I have called the cops?

I'm not a cop. I have friends who are police officers though. LOGIC should show how hard it would be for a police officer in a car to actually chase down and catch a kid on a speeding dirt bike who has no fear of weaving in and out of traffic.

it's protocol for police officers to give up a chase if the chase means that someone (including the person being chased) can get hurt. Period.

If you want to complain about what your tax dollars are getting, do it. But don't blame the few police officers who are actually busting their own @#$% in the streets. It's not them. its the @#$% budget that is making it more and more difficult to police this town.

I remember a few years ago one of the reckless riders was summoned to court ( http://tinyurl.com/kbh67al ) after taking only one snapshot of them (face exposed) while operating the bike on open roads. I do recognize now that most of the riders know that they are breaking the so now ride with masks on so that they are unrecognizable (there goes the theory that these riders don't know they are behaving badly), however, not all of them do so all the time. Can't the police continue to take photos and summon to court?

The situation puts police between a rock and a hard place because they aren't allowed to chase, which means that evidence against riders has to be gathered in the form of surveillance and then a warrant comes out later.

http://www.nhregister.com/general-news/20130607/total-of-9-arrested-in-new-haven-crackdown-on-illegal-atv-off-road-riding

Chief Esserman said that he would be putting the same resources into play to nab the illegal riders.

I'm writing a story for the Register about the issue and was hoping to talk to some concerned residents. My email is rscinto@nhregister.com

@FairHavener - that's an interesting article. Kind of made me worried in a sense for the kids who do just happen to have dirt bikes that AREN'T being @#$% with them. I have friends that ride bikes on actual courses that are meant for them but they aren't registered (because they don't go on the street). If they got pulled over, would their bikes get confiscated while trailing it?

The whole thing is a cluster @#$% and boils down to responsibility and a level of respect and passion for one's own neighborhood. These kids CLEARLY have zero respect or pride for their neighborhoods, so maybe the easier answer is - how do we create a place where they can have pride in their neighborhoods?

Would a town managed motor bike park be a fix? MAYBE. Yes, they would still need to get their bikes to and from the park which means they might be on the streets, but the fact that they are on the streets isn't REALLY the issue. It's the fact that they are riding the streets dangerously, and they are riding dangerously because they don't give a @#$% about their neighborhood and neighbors. Something that these kids can call their own could help cultivate that. Hunting them down with police officers is certainly NOT doing it.

Boy.. i'm definitely torn on this issue now.

I think that overall Fair Haven needs a rash of positivity and pride. With that comes nothing but good things. The younger kids need something to do, somewhere to go.

If we have a park, it will put all of those kids in one place where ONE officer can oversee without having to chase them through the streets. Seems more efficient to me.

Trumbull, CT has done VERY VERY well in getting kids (motor bike riders and BMXers off their streets and public property and into official courses)

@Cap'n Confused: my understanding is that if you do not ride an uninsured, unregistered dirt bike or ATV on public streets, sidewalks, and parks, you have nothing to worry about. It is only those who choose not abide by those rules (State laws) that will face the consequences. Towing bikes elsewhere, to either private land, or dirt bike parks, like those in Milford, etc. is what folks should be doing if this is their hobby.

Sure, of course. HOWEVER if you are stopping people who are not currently riding and have done nothing wrong that anyone has seen, you can STILL be stopped and asked for regstration. IE: The news story showed that a police officer pulled over a guy who had his dirt bike in the back of his pickup truck just because he had a dirt bike. Now sure, it was stolen ultimately, but thats' basically assuming everyone who is driving around New Haven with a dirt bike legally in the trunk of their truck is guilty of at LEAST looking guilty/ being pulled over. It's basically a "stop and frisk" method for dirt bikes. If you LOOK like you might be doing something wrong, we're going to stop you. In my opinion, that's only going to hurt the people who already feel dejected from their community so much so that they don't give a @#$% about ruining it with their bikes. Making them hate the police officers and their neighbors more isn't going to help.

I think my point is that if there WAS a legal place to ride in New Haven (or close by for those kids who don't have trucks / parents to drive them) then we could probably remove a LOT of those kids from the road. They only ride through the roads like that because they're looking for a thrill.. Lets give them a legal thrill. They are, after all, still just kids. ALL of the ones i've seen on those bikes are at the most High School age.

It's just some food for thought.. because chasing them down is NOT an option. Asking everyone who is at a stand still with a dirt bike is borderline "stop and frisk" territory.. and NONE of those options fix the underlying issue of a blatant disrespect for one's own community.

I saw a group of 15-20 today at the corner of Quinn and Grand today. Black handkerchiefs this time, one was doing a wheelie. This was an hour AFTER I had seen a few head south on Quinn near Aner and called the police.

At least two dirt bikes racing around Edgewood Park just 5 mins ago. Can't have a quite Sunday afternoon around here.

This issue was recategorized from Traffic/Road Safety to Policing Issue.

If you know where dirt bikes, quads and ATVs are garaged, report it to the New Haven Police ATV hotline at (203) 946-6098. Or, call your NHPD district manager. By reporting where these cars ATV and dirt bikes are stored, your district manager can build a case for getting a search warrant and eventually they will be able to confiscate the machines. But, first they need to build a case. They need to gather evidence.

For example, in the Edgewood/Dwight Neighborhood it is Sgt. Steve Torquati at (203) 946-7597. In the Whalley, Edgewood, Beaver Hills (WEB) Neighborhood it is Lt. Makiem Miller at (203) 589-3318 or mmiller@newhavenct.net. They will investigate and can confiscate the vehicles.

You can also contact your LCI neighborhood specialist. In Edgewood/Dwight, contact Tracy Claxton at (203) 946-2857 or TClaxton@newhavenct.net.

Then, contact your alderman to put pressure on the city to make this issue a priority for the police. The Edgewood ward is ward 24: call Evette Hamilton at (203) 508-5426 orWard24@newhavenct.net.

If you know where dirt bikes, quads and ATVs are garaged, report it to the New Haven Police Criminal Intel Unit. The officer in charge is:

Sergeant Karl Jacobson
New Haven Police Department
Criminal Intel Unit/Narcotics
One Union Ave, New Haven CT
phone: (203) 946-6098
Fax: (203) 946-6293
e-mail: kjacobson@newhavenct.net

He will respond to emails and calls. If you report a known ATV or dirt bike location to him, he will investigate and confiscate the machines.

Thank you for your participation in the constructive dialogue regarding this issue. As The New Haven Police Department does not actively monitor this site, we ask that future incidents be reported directly through the NHPD non-emergency line at (203)946-6316.
For information on storage locations of ATVs and other illegal vehicles, please call (203)946-6098 (reports can be made anonymously). Community members are always welcome to notify their respective District Manager; however, it’s important that people don’t telephone their District Manager to report an incident which is currently taking place, but instead telephone the incident into the non-emergency line to have officers dispatched. We appreciate your concern and help in addressing this matter.