LYNN DISTRICT COURT PROBATION MAINTAINS
COMMUNITY PRESENCE VIA BIKE PATROL

This summer, Lynn District Court Probation Officers will mount bikes and fan out on the North Shore where they will "keep an eye" on offenders as part of the court's special Bike Patrol Unit, according to Chief Probation Officer Donald January.

Lynn District Court's Bike Unit was first established three years ago, several years after the Lawrence District Court and Essex Juvenile courts started units. Lawrence and Essex were among the first probation departments in the nation to create a bike unit in the summer of 1999.

"The advantage of the bike patrol is that it puts Probation Officers in the eye of the public. They see it as another thing that probation is doing. The bikes also provide us great access to probationers," said January, "We are staying one step ahead of the bad guys."

Lynn District Court Probation Officers will ride into the community several times a week. They will travel by bike through Lynn, Swampscott, Marblehead, Saugus and Nahant, covering in excess of 50 miles. Probation Officers will be dispatched to downtown Lynn and the Commons, which have been identified as "trouble areas" by January.

Probation Officer Donald Castle, one of the original members of the bike unit, said probationers are often caught off guard when he or a member of the unit encounters them.

"The bike unit serves as a great crime prevention tool," Castle said.

The Lynn District Probation Department is helping to fill a void with its bike unit. When the special bike unit was established in 2002, Lynn District Probation Officers traveled with the Lynn Police.

While the summer months are the busiest for the Bike Patrol Unit, Probation Officers may also be found on two wheels at school and sporting events during the school year and at local parades. Most recently, the unit was present at the City of Lynn's Latin Festival.