Police to ride bikes to school with students in South side neighborhood
SANDY CULLEN | scullen@madison.com | 608-252-6137 | Posted: Thursday, August 4, 2011 6:54 pm
Madison police are hoping to continue making inroads into a South Side neighborhood with a troubled past by pedaling to school with students.
Starting with the first day of school on Sept. 1, members of the South District's Community Policing Team will join the Arbor Hills-Leopold neighborhood officer to bicycle to and from school with a group of youngsters in first through fifth grades.
Inspired by the Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin's Safe Routes to School program and Leopold Elementary School's "walking school bus" concept, the effort is designed to give students positive contacts with police, said Officer Andre Lewis, a member of the Community Policing Team who is organizing the program with neighborhood Officer Deon Johnson.
"It just builds a good community relationship," Lewis said. For many residents, their only contact with police is when someone is being arrested, he said.
"It was a high-crime neighborhood a couple of years ago," Lewis said of the area that had problems with drugs, gunfire, fights and other disturbances.
"The past couple of years, we've seen a drastic and significant change," he said, adding that police hope the bike program will help to further the positive results that have accompanied the addition of a neighborhood officer and other initiatives.
Each morning in September, officers will lead members of the Leopold Bike Club on a 20-minute ride before arriving at the Post Road school via the new Cannonball Bike Trail in time for breakfast. Students who bike to school 21 days will receive a bicycle to keep. Officers will resume the rides in spring, and hope students also will continue biking on their own. Lewis said.
So far, about 10 students have gotten the OK from parents to participate.
Police are seeking donations of gently used bicycles appropriate for children ages 6-9. "We've had a number of bikes donated," Lewis said.
Ten bicycle helmets and locks also have been donated by Wheels for Winners, a nonprofit organization that provides refurbished bikes to Dane County youths who do community service, he said.
Along with developing positive relationships, the bike-to-school program will provide an opportunity for exercise for the youngsters and officers alike, said Lewis, who hopes the activity also will help boost students' performance in the classroom.
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