OVPD to Hold Bike Checkpoint with Help from Hogs for Heroes

For more than a decade, the Ocean View Police Department has held a bicycle safety checkpoint in the summer. At those checkpoints, cyclists are welcome to stop and have officers inspect their bicycles, as well as receiving free safety items, including a light kit.

This year, the checkpoint will be held on Thursday, June 29, from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. in the Taylor Bank parking lot.

Hogs for Heroes recently donated $300 to the department to help it purchase bicycle light kits for the checkpoint. Since the program’s start, the department has installed more than 750 lights.

OVPD Chief Ken McLaughlin “was telling me they want to provide helmets and lights for the bicyclists here in Ocean View, going back and forth from Bethany for safety,” said Warren “Snake” Davis of Hogs for Heroes’ Delaware Chapter 3. “I thought that was money well spent.”

Davis, a founding member of the non-profit organization, said the charitable organization’s mission is to support military, police, firefighters and emergency responders within their communities.

“It was founded in 2008 by a friend of mine who was a retired Secret Service agent. He wanted to do something for veterans, police, fire departments — the folks out on the street every day keeping the community safe and keeping our country safe,” said Davis. “We think it’s very important to support those who are out there supporting us.”

Davis said the organization holds benefit rides for causes such as law enforcement and cancer research. The organization has also provided security for events such as Bike Week in Ocean City, Md.

“We do whatever we can in the community but our mission is to support.”

Delaware Chapter 3 currently has approximately 20 members. Davis said interested parties should contact a member and attend a meeting or a social evening at the Greene Turtle, to get a feel for the club.

He said, while this was the first financial donation to the department, Hogs for Heroes has already supported OVPD through Police Appreciation Day.

Hearing the monies donated would be going to the bicycle safety checkpoint, Davis said he was pleased.

“I think that’s money well-spent to prevent potential accidents, especially during the busy summer. It just shows they’re doing more in the community than just dealing with crime.”

For more information about Hogs for Heroes, visit www.hogsforheroesfoundation.com or visit Delaware Chapter 3’s Facebook page, at www.facebook.com/HHDE3.

Taylor Bank is located at 50 Atlantic Avenue in Ocean View.


Date Published:

June 23, 2017

By Maria Counts

Staff Reporter, Coastal Point