Department details soaring juvenile incidents, collisions and enforcement challenges as proposed ordinance changes are expected next month
FOLSOM — A surge of dangerous, disruptive and increasingly confrontational e-bike and e-motorcycle behavior among juveniles across Folsom prompted an extended and unusually urgent briefing before the Folsom City Council Wednesday night, as police laid out the full scope of the issue and previewed changes they hope the city will adopt next month. With calls for service up nearly 300 percent, collisions tripled, new hotspots emerging and riders fleeing police with growing regularity, council members said the problem is no longer a fringe nuisance but a full-scale public-safety challenge affecting parks, playgrounds, trails, businesses and neighborhoods throughout the city.
Lieutenant Jake Verhalen of the Folsom Police Department’s Neighborhood Services Division began by acknowledging the rising chorus of resident complaints council members have been hearing. “I would imagine, and I’m aware, that most of you have heard from your constituents a variety of complaints going all the way back to when these things really hit the streets in Folsom,” he said. “This gives you more of an overall view… and drills down into just how broad this problem has become.”…