Editorial: Camden cops right to go after the ATVs

ATVs and dirt bikes in the streets are a danger to residents; confiscate them and punish riders.In Camden, crime runs the gamut, and police, as they must, focus on the serious stuff -- drugs, gangs, guns and violence.

But that cannot mean that other lawbreakers committing lesser crimes are let go. Toleration of any crime leads only to one thing: more of that crime.

Such is the case in Camden with people riding ATVs and dirt bikes in the streets, on sidewalks and in parks. It's illegal. It's also unsafe and a major nuissance to residents.

In the suburbs, illegal ATV and dirt bike riders aren't a problem because police don't let it go. In Camden, police often have bigger fish to fry.

But we're glad that Camden Police Chief Scott Thomson is listening to the cries of residents who have long wanted something done about the dirt bikes and ATVs. The Camden police are now cracking down on these riders. Already this year, more than 60 four-wheel ATVs and two-wheel dirt bikes have been confiscated.

Police should continue the campaign. Over the last two years, nine victims of ATV accidents were treated at Cooper University Hospital. It's only a matter of time before a child or a senior citizen, who can't react quickly enough, gets killed while walking down the sidewalk or through the park.

This is another quality-of-life issue that plagues Camden's law-abiding residents. The only way to curtail it is for police to keep confiscating the ATVs and dirt bikes until riders get the message that they no longer have a free pass to tear through the streets, sidewalks and parks of Camden and face punishment for trying to do so.

Camden residents have just as much right to walk down the street without worrying about an ATV rider injuring them as people in Haddonfield or Cherry Hill do.

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Source: http://www.courierpostonline.com/article/20100702/OPINION/7020301/1046/opinion

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