The New York City Police Department on Tuesday demolished nearly 100 illegal motorcycles, including ATVs, that were seized from a departmental auto yard in Brooklyn.
Demolishing the motorcycles is a part of the Summer 2022 Motorcycle Master Plan that the New York City Police have put into place as part of their ongoing effort to both remove illegal motorcycles from the streets and raise public awareness of the serious consequences of driving them.
Bikes, which are made for off-road use and are not street legal, generate numerous complaints from New York City drivers and pedestrians who are put in danger by maneuvering drivers, noisy engines, excessive speed, racing on sidewalks and lack of signage.
The dangers are heightened as large groups of people aboard these motorized bikes, lacking basic safety equipment, tend to gather and swarm through congested neighborhoods, especially during the summer.
“The use of these vehicles puts all New Yorkers at risk: other drivers, passengers, pedestrians, and those who operate illegal bicycles as well,” said Police Commissioner Keechant L. Sewell. “It is the New Yorkers who live and work in our communities, and who must endure these dangers, who tell us loud and clear: ‘Get these motorcycles out of our neighborhood.'”
There were 92 bikes smashed Tuesday in the Erie Basin Auto Pound, and the 2022 Summer Motorcycle Plan calls for continued impounding of illegal bikes to facilitate a steady schedule of regular wrecking events.
Currently, there are 588 ATVs and other similar vehicles in the car yard waiting to be destroyed. Between January 1 and June 16 of this year, New York City Police seized 1,921 of these vehicles, an increase of 87.9% compared to the 1,022 vehicles seized in the same period last year.
A key component of the plan is to develop information about where such vehicles are hidden on New York City Housing Authority property and to form operations to safely impound them. Parking these vehicles with full tanks of combustible fuel in such public spaces is a serious risk to the safety of the families who live in those residences.
Other elements of the 2022 Summer Motorcycle Plan include:
- Designate New York City Police patrol municipal inspectors to map motorcyclist routes.
- The Bureau of Patrol Services hosts weekly strategy sessions.
- Utilize field intelligence officers to identify motorcycle storage and assembly locations.
- Deploy Neighborhood Coordination Officers to raise awareness.
- Have the Youth Coordination Officers consult with the children on the issue.
- Analyze complaints to 3-1-1 in real time to track motorcycles.
- Assign Highway Safety Officers to educate the community about the law.
Illegal vehicles are often involved in traffic collisions and fatalities. They are also handled by criminals and used in carrying out assaults and other violent crimes.
Vehicles seized by the New York City Police are only destroyed after extensive efforts to determine legal ownership fail, and are no longer required to be held by police for investigative purposes. Motorcycles are destroyed, rather than resold or donated, to prevent them from ever returning to the streets of New York City.
–
