Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Heavy police presence planned on roads during MLK holiday
Extra law enforcement officers will guard roads in Broward and Miami-Dade counties Monday to prevent a recurrence of the wheelie-popping, wrong-way-driving bikers and all-terrain vehicle drivers who showed up last year on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
Helicopters, airplanes and an additional 50 state troopers will be on patrol. The Broward Sheriff’s Office will set up two command posts and establish helicopter patrols. Other law enforcement agencies, including police departments in Hollywood, Pembroke Pines, Fort Lauderdale and Miami-Dade County, will participate.
“This day is about Americans showing respect and admiration for everything Dr. King did,” Broward Sheriff Scott Israel said at a news conference Thursday at BSO headquarters in Fort Lauderdale. “Unfortunately, we have a group of people who ride off-road vehicles and create havoc and endanger Broward County and Miami-Dade County and everywhere else they decide to break the law.”
Last year, at least 150 riders, part of an organized event called “Bikes Up, Guns Down,” started in Miami-Dade County about 3:30 p.m., moving north into Broward County on Interstate 95. Many ran red lights and popped wheelies in traffic, fleeing law enforcement officers who tried to stop them.
Israel said the aerial units will ensure that such escapes don’t happen this time.
“We will identify any and every violator that we are not prepared to pursue for later arrest and possible confiscation of their ATVs,” he said.
“If you’re an ATV rider and you’re thinking of coming to Broward or Dade County and will abide by the law, we’d love to have you,” he said. “If you’re planning on disrupting traffic or endangering the lives of yourself or anyone else, you will be dealt with from a zero tolerance standpoint.”
Florida Highway Patrol Major Robert Chandler said law enforcement agencies take the violations seriously as severe threats to public safety.
“Although we’ve all heard that they don’t believe that what they’re doing is dangerous, these riders doing wheelies, driving the wrong way on the interstate, etc., besides being illegal is extremely dangerous for all parties,” he said.
Violators could faces fines of $116 to $1,065, in addition to possible arrest and the confiscation of their vehicles, he said.
As for law-abiding drivers, he urged them to remain calm if they encounter groups of bikers or ATV riders driving recklessly.
“We don’t want people to be scared,” he said. “If you get surrounded by these bikes or ATVs, understand that there is a large law enforcement presence, from the air, from the ground, every which way we have it covered. We will be there. Don’t overreact. We don’t want any road-rage incidents or anything else.”