The reaction to steps Manteca Police took last Monday to make sure an advertised “street takeover” event that ended up bringing together 50 to 60 tween and teen bicyclists didn’t repeat safety concerns that plagued such previous events offers what some might call “teachable moments.”
It includes why:
*additional police are needed on overtime to assure any need to deal with “special events” doesn’t reduce the department’s ability to handle other calls for service, especially crimes in progress when there is an imminent threat to life.
*a street takeover is not the same as a parade.
*evidence in an open case is not subject to the public records act and can only be accessed through the court’s discovery process until the case is closed.
*officers were deployed in the first place and what prompted them to start issuing citations and impounding bicycles.
Staffing background
Manteca Police have 83 sworn officers to protect the community 24/7 and 365 days a year.
And the department must do so while factoring in vacations, illness, court appearances and such.
Aggravating staffing concerns are officers that sustain on-the-job injuries that require long-term rehab periods under worker’s compensation.
It is why City Manager Toni Lundgren recently recommended — and elected leaders agreed to — hiring three out of budget officers to fill in gaps caused by officers on worker’s comp to reduce the pressure on other officers of tagging additional overtime hours on their regular 10-hour shifts to maintain regular patrol staffing.
The highest priority for staffing is officers on the street.
Various police administrations over the years have reallocated what resources they had — including when 10 plus officer positions were eliminated 16 years ago during the Great Recession — to make sure that is always the case.
Given the department has minimum staffing standards and is not in a position to often staff much more than that on various shifts, enforcement efforts requiring dedicated manpower almost always requires officers working on overtime.
Why bring in officers
Police Chief Steve Schluer indicated the decision was made to bring in the eight officers on overtime last week was indeed two-fold: It provided an adequate presence to keep things orderly and it would do so by not tying up the five officers on patrol that shift.
While some dismiss it as “overkill” as it was “just kids being kids”, the department viewed it as a measured effort especially in light of the January incident where more than 50 riders involved in such a street “takeover” illegally bicycled on the 120 Bypass between Main Street and Union Road. They took over an entire lane while some popped wheelies.
It should be noted Caltrans, in justifying the need to fund the current and next phase of the 120-99 improvements, in the environmental document cited accident rates that shows you are six times as likely to be involved in a crash on the two-mile segment of the Bypass from Highway 99 to Union Road than on most other freeway stretches in California.
Treat it like a parade
A parade, per se, involves street closures and such.
It is perfectly legal for groups of bicyclists to go down city streets as long as they do so single file following the California vehicle code rules that includes obeying stop signs and traffic lights.
It is not legal to ride side by side.
And they travel in the same direction of traffic.
Weaving in and out of traffic or popping wheelies is not legal.
Groups of people riding bicycles do not need police permission to do so. They just need to follow state laws that govern the use of public roads.
Why police issued tickets
Schluer notes police did not start pulling over bicyclists, issuing citations, and impounding bicycles until laws were blatantly being broken.
If the serious infractions didn’t occur, the police chief said officers would have simply monitored the “event” to make sure the bicyclists and the general public were kept safe.
Those teens cited will be required, under the city ordinance, to attend a bike safety class conducted by the police department’s bicycle patrol unit.
‘Educating’ young riders
Long before there was a splash of TV coverage about the group ride on the 120 Bypass freeway lane as well as the City Council putting in place an ordinance designed to address illegal street takeovers by bicyclists, the department sent letters to students through Manteca Unified schools.
The letters advised it was illegal to do wheelies and to weave in and out of traffic. They included a reminder that bicyclists must follow the same rules as vehicles on city streets .
That was in October of 2023 in response to youth bicyclists that had become so brazen, they were weaving in and out of heavy late Saturday afternoon traffic in a group of two dozen or so, running red lights and popping wheelies.
Existing ordinance wording, at the time, did not have provisions for punishment for street takeovers, per se, by bicyclists.
Public records request
The police department has received a public records act request from a parent of one teen citied to gain access to footage taken of the April 6 “street takeover”. It was filmed by drone and well as potentially officer body cameras and dashboard cameras.
The department, following protocol in cases as outlined by the courts and the state, do not arbitrarily release information gathered in open cases to the public when it is packaged as evidence to justify specific charges.
It can be accessed through the discovery process the judicial system has in place.
Some parents have questioned why teens were cited for making a video of the takeover but had not been riding illegally.
Sgt. Pat Danipour noted Manteca modeled the bicycle ordinance to mirror the sideshow ordinance that makes it illegal to attend and/or video such an event.
The courts have upheld such laws given a key motivating for such “sideshows” or “street takeovers” is to not just “perform” to impress others but to gain notoriety.
Police are planning a bicycle rodeo on the Saturday of this year’s downtown Pumpkin Fair the first weekend of October to step up efforts to stress bicycling safety.
To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com
