ATVs help officers patrol high-crime areas

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- It’s a patrolling method off the beaten path and it has some cops riding Rhinos.

“This is a Yamaha Rhino,” said Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officer Brian Sanders while driving the all-terrain vehicle.

Sanders of the Hickory Grove division in east Charlotte is the driving force behind the new policing tool. 

“We can actually deploy this in our high crime areas, apartment complexes,” Sanders explained.  “We can go behind buildings, in between the buildings but at the same time we can respond to calls for service on the roadway.” 

Yamaha donated a pair of Rhinos to the Hickory Grove division. They’re outfitted with blue flashing lights and marked with CMPD’s logo.

Now officers can go through areas where no cop car or bike has gone before, forested and grassy areas.

“Where it would take a patrol car three to four minutes to get around, we can do it in just a minute or two,” Sanders said. “We can actually get from neighborhood to neighborhood through right-of-ways.” 

Officers started using the ATV’s in late April. Since then, they've logged some 800 miles and made 25 arrests. They average one arrest for every three hours of patrolling on a Rhino.

“What we have been able to do is even ride in our neighborhoods where residential burglaries are up,” Sanders said.

Each Rhino holds three gallons of gas, good for about 50 miles to the gallon.

“No air-condition,” the officer said. “When it’s hot, it’s hot.”