State police ATV patrols eliminated

Jean Jones

Is it OK to call police about illegal off-road vehicles riding on private property if it isn't your property?

State police say yes, if you know the owner doesn't want the riders on his property.

"You can report such activity anonymously," said Troop er Eugene Petrella, who was attending the Sept. 16 meeting of the township committee to give the usual police report on illegal activities in the township.

Petrella said the ATV program had been cut from the Port Norris station.

Previously, state police would have ATV patrols with troopers riding the vehicles so they could follow illegal riders off the roads and into the woods.

"Our hands are tied with the budget situation," he said.

Mayor Andy Sarclette said he had tried for years to get the state to permit Maurice River Township to establish an off-road riding facility, which also would have included walking and biking trails and camping facilities.

But the Pinelands Commission had insisted that the site, a sand mining area that was not being mined at the time, was too sensitive for that type of activity.

That same Pinelands Commission permits sand mining of the same property.

Petrella said every place he has worked, ATV riding has been a liability issue.

The Maurice River Township facility would have been managed and there would have been a fee for using it, but Sarclette said people are willing to pay to have a legal place to ride.

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Source: http://www.nj.com/bridgeton/index.ssf?/base/news-11/128556061391660.xml&coll=10

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