Local Jewelry Merchant Donates Electric Bike to Lakewood Police Department
Tom Calabro, the owner of Twin City Jewelers, 36 Clifton Avenue, Lakewood, has donated a Giant-brand electric mountain bicycle, valued at $2100, to the Lakewood Police Department to help revitalize its bicycle patrol.
Calabro said, “Lakewood is a wonderful town. A police bicycle patrol in downtown Lakewood adds an extra element of support while making the officers more visible and approachable. This helps develop positive relationships between the downtown merchants and police.”
Police Captain Steven Allaire, Patrol Commander, said that the electric bicycle donated by Calabro was the department’s first electric bike. Since then, the department has purchased a second electric bike to add to its fleet of six regular bicycles that are used for special events, such as patrolling around Lake Carasaljo on the Fourth of July and Night Out against Crime.
Officers from the patrol division, who want to work downtown, volunteer for bicycle patrol, working 10-hour shifts. An electric bike makes it a lot easier for bicycle patrolmen.
Captain Allaire said, “We have had excellent feedback from residents and businesses who have seen the police back on bikes downtown and sometimes in the Senior villages during the summer over the last two years. Electric bikes are easier to ride and a lot faster, easily doing over 20 miles an hour, which shortens response time.”
Retired Police Chief Rob Lawson said the Police Department didn’t have any electric bikes when he was chief. “The bike patrol goes back more than 20 years. We had three or four officers on bikes who had been assigned foot patrol. Having electric bikes is an advantage for the police, business owners, and residents.”
About Twin City Jewelers and Tom Calabro: Twin City Jewelers was started by Joseph Sgro, Tom Calabro’s uncle, in 1979. Calabro, who started working in Twin City in 1980 became a master goldsmith and stone-setter. When Sgro died in 1993, Calabro purchased Twin City. For 25 years, Calabro has supported local law enforcement. For more information, email Calabro at tom@twincityjewelers.com or visit twincityjewelers.com. Find Twin City Jewelers on facebook.com/twincityjewelers.