Full Notification

The Police Department has received complaints of motorized vehicles being operated on township property, specifically, trails that were created for walking, bicycling and horseback riding. As per Township Code: 168-22, “footpaths, walks and trails established for pedestrian, bicycle or horseback traffic shall not be used for motorized vehicular travel”. Doing so can secure you a fine, imprisonment, or community service. A variety of motor vehicle summonses can be issued, including Operating an ATV on public roads or on private property. Motor vehicle violations can carry hefty fines. FAQ’s What are you going to do about this problem? 1) Patrol the trails on foot and with marked ATV’s owned by the Police Department. 2) Take a zero-tolerance approach and issue summons to violators. How am I supposed to know I am on township owned property? Trails owned by the township are marked. More importantly, it is the operator’s responsibility to know whose property they are on and to ensure they have permission from the property owner to ride. How can township residents help? Document patterns of ATV riding on township property. Take photos of riders/ATV’s. Forward information (including pictures) to officers by emailing us at [email protected]. You can also go to our website and fill out a Police Contact Form however photos cannot be attached using this method. Do not place yourself in danger in an attempt to confront riders or gather evidence. Why not issue warning instead of summonses? We tried that. While it helped temporarily, the problem is back. Our only recourse is to issue summonses and make violators explain their actions to a judge. Where will you be patrolling? The township has many trails and we obviously cannot be everywhere at once. Our patrols will be random yet focused based on complaints. Don’t you have anything better to do? Quality of life concerns of those living near the trails is important to us, as is the safety of those using the trails the way they are meant to be used. So, do we have other things we could be doing? Yes!! Anything better? No!