The Pinecrest Police Department, in an innovative effort to promote stronger relations with citizens of the community, has announced a new Ride-Along program to allow residents to go on vehicle patrols with police officers.

Police Chief John Hohensee

Pinecrest Police Chief John Hohensee said he successfully instituted a similar program during his tenure as chief of police in Oakwood, Ohio and decided that it would work equally well in Pinecrest.

"I had a similar program in my previous department and I think it serves a couple of good purposes," said Hohensee. "It is another mechanism to interact with the community. Secondly, it's a good tool for the participants to learn what kind of work we do, the typical calls we handle and understand from our perspective what goes on in our community, and what we try to do to impact it positively."

In essence, Village residents will be given the opportunity to experience police work up close and personal.

Hohensee said provisions have been taken to keep any citizen participating in the Ride-Along program from encountering any high-risk situations.

"One of the requirements by our insurance company is that there is no high-risk work performed by the officer while a citizen is with him," said Hohensee. "In the event they encounter something that suggests they're going to lead into that, they're obligated to deliver the ride-along to a safe location or transfer them to another officer. There are provisions in the policy for no felony-stop type of work because of that very real concern."

Ride-Along participants also will be required to sign a waiver before joining an officer on patrol.

"Quite clearly, it indicates in there that we do dangerous work sometimes," said Hohensee. "We'll do our best to shield these participants, but we can't control all things."

The chief added that the Ride-Along program might also prove useful as a tool for recruiting new police officers.

"Another valuable aspect of this is if someone is looking to get in the field of law enforcement and perhaps even want to be an officer in Pinecrest," he said, "they can take this as an opportunity to go out and see the kind of work we do and maybe make a better-informed decision."

To arrange a Ride-Along, citizens must contact the police department 48 hours in advance of the time they want to join an officer on patrol. In addition to signing a waiver, residents must submit to a background check. Once cleared, citizens will join an officer for a four-hour patrol during 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.

For more information, please call the Pinecrest Police Department at 305-234-2100.