The reason given to me by a chief of police in Connecticut for why they do not engage in pursuit of illegal dirt bikes is because of what is called the Police Motor Vehicle Pursuit Policy. The policy states, “A police officer may only engage another vehicle in a pursuit if the officer has reasonable suspicion to believe that the driver or occupant has committed or is attempting to commit a crime of violence, or there are exigent circumstances that warrant the need to apprehend the suspect in a timely manner because of the potential for harm to the public if the apprehension does not occur. The officers must be able to articulate the exigent need to apprehend the driver or occupant because of the potential harm or risk to the public.”

The important phrase here is a “crime of violence.” It is said that an officer must prove that the occupant on the vehicle either just committed a crime of violence or is about to. So, it is reasoned, someone driving an unregistered dirt bike, speeding, doing wheelies, recklessly driving, disregarding street signs, and evading police do not fall under the category of a “crime of violence.” 

However, there is a critical qualifier: the policy also says, “…or there are exigent (pressing/demanding) circumstances that warrant the need to apprehend the suspect in a timely manner because of the potential harm to the public if the apprehension does not occur…” So pursuit does not only need to be justified on the grounds of a “crime of violence,” but could also include “exigent circumstances.” 

The following are reasons why the current illegal dirt bikers could be classified as “exigent circumstances,” and therefore be able to be pursued and stopped by police…

1. Someone just died. Why did she die? On one hand she is responsible for breaking the law and putting herself in a very dangerous situation. But on the other hand, it would have been much, much more likely that she wouldn’t have had to have the temptation to get onto that bike if the public were not emboldened to do such activities with the permission of the authorities. So, yes, allowance of these bikers to continue unprevented is presenting pressing or demanding circumstances. Isn’t people needlessly dying enough cause to put an end to it?

2. The general public is inordinately in danger of bodily harm because the illegal dirt bikers (1) drive recklessly with wheelies – presenting a dramatically increased potential for harm to themselves and others, (2) they are more often speeding than not, (3) they constantly disregard traffic lights and signs, (4) they drive on sidewalks, through yards, at playgrounds, etc. Maybe someone can help me with this, but wouldn’t the combination of all of these violations, repeatedly – on top of disregarding the police flagging them down – constitute more than mere infractions, and escalate pretty quickly to a misdemeanor or felony? 

2. Allowance of them to freely operate their bikes illegally allows and encourages them to publically gather into mobs, which can and has dramatically increased the potential of erupting into mob violence, which the police have proven that they cannot handle. I have personally had two incidents in particular where this has happened…

(1) A young man was shot and killed last year in front of my house. The next day a mob of bikers essentially blocked traffic in front of my house (on a main road) and were also crowding in my yard and on my property. I called the police and a Sargent told me that they were not able to handle disbanding the crowd because of a lack of officers. What if this mob began to break into homes or attacked people? I was not able to bring my wife and three daughters home that night because of how dangerous and uncertain it was.

(2) In July of this year, our church was asked by a local police officer to evacuate the park because there was an imminent threat that a large group of bikers were planning to “take over” the park and for our safety we should leave. Isn’t this saying that these bikers are presenting dangers to the public – exigent circumstances? 

3. Freely allowing these bikers to travel the streets with guaranteed no pursuit encourages and allows them to transport drugs or other illegal things freely. This provides an immediate increase in potential danger to our community through quicker and safer transportation of drugs and illegal firearms or other illegal means. We are already in the midst of an opioid/fentanyl/violence pandemic. The last thing we need is to provide secure transportation of those drugs and guns to people in this city.  

Aside from engaging in a pursuit, there must be some alternative way to apprehend this group of people (road blocks, stop sticks, or a combination of multiple tactics). These are a small group of (supposedly) unarmed young men on dirt bikes. Are these dirt bikers really a more powerful force than the entire police force? I don’t think so, but if they are, call in the National Guard. The public does not want them here, not one of them. We would be very glad if we never saw an illegal dirt bike on the roads again. The longer the problem is allowed to go on the more difficult and dangerous it is going to become. It needs to be clearly communicated to them that this city has a zero tolerance policy about this – “If you ride a bike in NL illegally, you will be immediately stopped by whatever means necessary and you will be charged with the full extent of the law.” 

Good, innocent people are in danger no matter which way we decide to move forward with the problem. People ARE getting hurt and killed. So who do you want killed? Engage in pursuit and do whatever you need to do to stop it. 

Aside from the danger that this presents, the situation simply gives these cities bad reputations and is a nuisance to our society. Who would want to move into a house or start a business where this is allowed to freely happen?  

I appreciate and pray for all of our law enforcement officers. They have been given their badge by God, and are responsible for a very difficult job. I pray that God will keep you safe, as well as give you wisdom and courage to reward those who do good, and punish those who do wrong.      

Aside from the civil problem and difficulty, there is a deeper spiritual problem here. Our society has increasingly disregarded God and pushed Him out of our lives. Because of this we have pushed away His wise and powerful Word and ways, and have adopted our own feeble and foolish ways. If we don’t want God’s authority then we will not get God’s wisdom, protection and blessing. Our homes are devoid of faithful fathers because our society wants to enjoy free sex, which the governmental schools encourage and the state subsidizes. We need to return back to our foundations, which is faith in Christ and obedience to the Bible. Go to church – a good church that preaches the Bible faithfully and strives to obey it. Get married and stay married. Have children and take responsibility for them. Instruct and discipline them. Home school your children or enroll them in a Christian school. Get a job and keep it – earn your own bread. This is the way to societal blessing, protection and flourishing. “Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.” Psalm 2