SCARBOROUGH — The Scarborough Police Department has decided to make a change on how they will patrol neighborhoods, parking lots, and more. The department has created a new system called the “Cruise Mode.”
In a public safety announcement created on Jan. 18, Officer Steve Thibodea explains the new mode which was created as a way for residents to know officers are out on the street and to help them to feel safer.
When a police officer is rushing to an emergency call or making a traffic stop, blue lights on the top of the car as well as headlights will be flashing.
But with the new “cruise mode,” the corner of the light bar on police cars will emit a solid dim light. The solid, as opposed to flashing, light lets police cars be seen more easily, lets residents know officers are on patrol and on the look out in neighborhoods, parking lots and elsewhere, and hopefully helps residents feel safer, according to police.
“If we are in a parking lot, let’s say Walmart, and we’re cruising around the parking lot you can see that these two blue lights are on or if we are in your neighborhood, we want you to see that these blue lights are on and that we are there for you,” Thibideau said in the video.
“I noticed there was a post by the Scarborough Police Department that they are now going to start riding around neighborhoods with their lights on,” Councilor Jon Anderson said at a Town Council workshop Jan. 19. “What I was hoping when that came out, that it was their response to one of the (community) survey questions.”
The results of the survey indicated that people would like to feel that there is more of a police presence in their neighborhood. The Police Department decide implementing cruise mode would be the best way to let people see that officers are out there patrolling the town.
The Town Council will continue to work on changes that were addressed in the community survey, Anderson said. The council will analyze the survey in greater detail, decide what changes need to be made, and will work with staff and committees to help understand what improvements are needed.
Comments are not available on this story.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
