The Hickory Grove Division of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg
Police Department were lucky enough to receive a pair of Yamaha Rhinos that
were donated by Yamaha.
Officer Brian Sanders and his partner Officer Jeff Bumgarner
came up with the idea of using UTVs when looking at different ways to crack
down on crime and Captain Glen Neimeyer and Sergeant Ojaniit agreed to the
concept.
The Rhinos are deployed in high
crime areas and allow officers to get behind and in between building where
normal patrol cars cannot easily drive. Officers can also get from
neighborhood to neighborhood through right-of-ways and cut response time in
half.
Officers started using the Rhino’s in April of 2008 and in
just over three months, they have logged over 800 miles and made 31
arrests. They average one arrest for every three hours of patrolling on a
Rhino.
Twelve police officers are now trained to use the Rhinos.
