PALMDALE – The Palmdale Sheriff’s Station is currently applying for a grant through California State Parks for the Off-Highway Vehicle Enforcement Team.
The process allows for a 30-day public review and comment period. This period provides an opportunity for the public to review the preliminary application submitted to the Off-Highway Motor Vehicle Recreation (OHMVR) Division for consideration during the current grant cycle. The Palmdale Sheriff’s Station is encouraging residents to view the grant application and submit comments and questions. View the application here.
Comments on the application must be received between March 3 and April 6. The public may provide comments to both the Palmdale Sheriff’s Station and the Off-Highway Motor Vehicle Recreation (OHMVR) Division by emailing jkacton@lasd.org and carbon copying OHVinfo@parks.ca.gov.
About the local Off-Highway Vehicle Enforcement Team
The Off-Highway Vehicle (OHV) enforcement team patrols the contract cities of Palmdale, Lancaster, and all the unincorporated county areas. Its largest area of responsibility lies in rural towns surrounding both cities. These areas include Acton, Agua Dulce, Antelope Acres, Leona Valley, Elizabeth Lake, Lake Hughes, Littlerock, Pearblossom, Llano, Lake Los Angeles and Wrightwood – more than 1,100 square miles of rural desert and mountain areas.
The Palmdale OHV team consists of one lieutenant and three deputies and the Lancaster team consists of one sergeant and five deputies. In addition to this, the Oriented Policing Services (OPS) team, a county funded unincorporated quality of life unit, has a sergeant and two deputies assisting with OHV patrol needs. The Palmdale OHV team deploys on various weekends and holidays and is required to handle OHV complaints which are called in by the public.
During the year 2014, Palmdale and Lancaster Stations received and responded to 710 OHV-related calls for service, according to the grant application.
The grant period for the 2013-2014 years resulted in 95 citations, 172 warnings, eight felony arrests, 12 misdemeanor arrests, 16 towed/recovered stolen vehicles and one gun seized during the course of 39 deployments.
The team also conducted patrols on the Fourth of July to quell illegal firework activity. The team extinguished two small fires caused by fireworks in Lancaster this past Fourth of July, long before the fire department could arrive due to the inaccessible terrain, according to the grant application.
The team regularly patrols the areas which are open for OHV enthusiasts, conducts equipment checks, and provides information to trail users. Over the past several years, the team has focused on quality of life concerns and destruction of property from illegal trespassing. As a result, the team has been more visible in the rural areas.
Palmdale Station’s off-highway vehicle grant application can be viewed at http://shq.lasdnews.net/content/uoa/PLM/2015-2016%20Grant%20Application.pdf.
–
Previous related story: Reminder: No ATV riding in Acton, Agua Dulce
AL says
I did not know that off road vehicles were allowed at Vasquez Rocks Park….
frank eugene says
Not that it was a bad idea , it just wasn’t a good idea either. Better idea is to have them, (dirt bikes), parked at sheriff and sub stations and only use them to go where a patrol car might get stuck. Like in the desert or foothills after a rain storm.
Lori says
I have read the grant and I am in complete agreement with the Palmdale Sheriff Station receiving a grant for the OHMVR Division. I have been a resident of the Antelope Valley for over 50 years and love the beauty of the desert. Anything that the sheriffs can do to protect the flora and fauna of this unique area is beneficial now and to future generations.
The education aspect of the grant is important because many people do not, or do not care about knowing where proper places to ride are located. I appreciate the fact that more education is shared than tickets. I hope that this grant will help preserve the natural habitat by not allowing scarring of hills and land by motorcyclists. Years ago, poppies covered many hills in the southern Palmdale area near the 14 freeway, now those hills are scarred and the poppies don’t grow there. We have had some great rain this year and I am hopeful the flowers will make a come-back, but if riders don’t respect that, the come-back will be short lived, not to mention the increase chances of fire when the summer months are upon us.
Since our area is so unique, it is important that we have available officers to respond to emergencies in areas that are unreachable by cars and such.
I am not against biking, there’s an off-road bike in my garage right now.
I have read the comments in the AV Times and the negative responses seem to be negative towards sheriffs in general. Please ignore these comments coming from people that want to do whatever they want without any responsibility for their actions.
Mike says
Let the druggies and gangsters run wild and make life hell for the taxpayers of the AV while what few cops we do have ride around out in the desert on dirt bikes. What a great plan!
Chuck says
How about add more Motors on the street so do I don’t have to listen to dirt bike riders, riding non street legal dirt bikes up and down residential streets all the time. If the Sheriff’s want to ride motorcycles put them on a street bikes and focus on drivers who speed and better yet are texting all the time while driving. The money used for the off road task force can be better spent elsewhere.
MARK says
They money used for the off road task forces come from Green Sticker OHV funds. I can not be used for the other things you’ve mentioned. But yes texting and driving should have it’s own task force.
valley girl says
What exactly would they be doing? Looks like getting paid to have fun to me. Hmm.
kim says
ithink its a bad idea. theres not a lot the kids can do around here. and this could be why the kids turn to drugs and other disfunctional activities. let them have some good clean fun for thegood kids who find this a hobby
Brian_quad@yahoo.com says
I think this is a waste of money and time! We do live in the desert and people can deal with the sound of a dirtbike or even the dust! These police should focus thier energy on crime and drug areas. Do we really need to pay these cops to ride brand new dirtbikes on land, the public is not allowed on?
– Brian
Greg says
They would only be riding on said land IF there was someone else illegally riding there. No idea if the bikes are brand new or not, but that is like stating officers should not have brand new cars every so often, lame.
Marie says
I wrote to the two email addresses list requesting that the Palmdale Sheriff Off-Highway Vehicle Enforcement Team get the grant. Off roading sure looks like fun, but too many are wrecking our rural areas by not sticking to the trails already made.
Lancaster commuter says
Waste of money for them to go play with their ATVs and get paid. I say No!
daniel says
On the surface it sounds like a great idea. I’ll take a look at the application and consider other opinions before making a final decision. Thanks for the notification.
Brian says
Not sure having them pose parked ON Vasquez Rocks is the best representation of legal off-roading (I’m pretty sure I’d get a ticket if I did that). I’d much rather the Sheriff’s Station simply provide an additional patrol car to the area to attend to on-road and other criminal problems in the area.
Bob says
Nailed it Brian, yes we would be cited.
Meanwhile there’s only one or two traffic cops in the entire Antelope Valley. It’s got to be some fun riding anywhere you want while making $500 a day.
Bob says
We sure could use these guys out at Ave J-8 and 57th. St. West!
Dirt bike rider says
As an AV resident Im happy to see this enforcement , Keep up the good work deputies thank you!