Bloomfield police on patrol with an electric tricycle

BLOOMFIELD, NJ — For a little over a year now, the Bloomfield Police Department has been deploying a police mobility vehicle on downtown-area sidewalks.

Known as a PMV, the mechanism is a 375-pound, electric-powered, three-speed tricycle, with a throttle, that can travel 30 miles per hour. Narrow enough at 30 inches to a enter store, and at 5-feet in length having a turning radius handy for sidewalks, it is assigned primarily to the community police unit.

According to Lt. Gary Peters, the commander of the Special Operations Division overseeing community policing, the BPD is probably the only municipal law enforcement agency around that has one of these vehicles.

During an interview earlier this week in his office, Peters said the vehicle is used weekdays and in parks or at special events where it is especially handy: The officer driving it has increased visibility and can be readily seen — a head above a crowd — since it is driven standing up.

Joining Peters during the interview was Officer Bruce Calkin. Calkin said he is called “RoboCop” by kids because he uses the PMV. He said it is easy to operate but he grew up around motorcycles.

“It’s a different kind of feeling going 30 miles-per-hour standing up,” he said.
The vehicle, which is not authorized for street use, has front-wheel drive and rear-disc hydraulic brakes. It has a maximum load of 350 pounds. Once its motor is fully charged, it can cruise at 6 to 8 miles an hour for 80 miles before it needs to be recharged, according to Peters.

“It’s not built cheaply,” Calkin said.
According to Police Director Sam DeMaio’s office, the price tag of the PMV is $8,800.

The operator’s key is on a lanyard so if the driver were to fall off, the key would disengage, the motor would stop and the brakes lock automatically.

Peters likened the PMV to a Cushman, a three-wheeled, gasoline-powered vehicle still in use by the New York Police Department. But the driver of a Cushman sits down inside a small cabin. Peters said his father, a former BPD detective, operated a Cushman, in the ‘70s, while with the department. Those vehicles, however, were phased out.

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