Montgomery County Sheriff's Office Gets New Bike Unit
By Jim Melwert
NORRISTOWN, Pa. (CBS) -- Some Montgomery County Sheriff's deputies will be patrolling on bicycles around the courthouse, the Norristown Transportation Center, and on the trails, thanks to some help from Pottstown police, the D.A.'s office – and an anonymous donor.
Montgomery County Sheriff Russell Bono says they came up with the idea to put deputies on bikes last fall.
"To supplement security around the courthouse and parks and on the trails," he says. "The only problem was we didn't have any bicycles."
Pottstown police were about to update their bikes, so they donated the old ones to the Sheriff's department. An anonymous $5,000 donation helped them make repairs and buy a few new bikes, and the District Attorney's office paid for new uniforms.
"There are times when the courtrooms are down we have extra deputies," Bono says, "so rather than have them sit around being unproductive, they can jump on a bike and ride around the courthouse and those other areas."
Sheriff Bono adds this is proactive, and stresses there are no threats or increases in crime.
