THANKS GIVEN TO DRIVERS; LAW ABIDERS PULLED OVER

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Thursday, November 28, 1991

The Record (New Jersey) | All Editions | NEWS | Page A01

Cornell Adams of Hillsdale said he did not know what to think when Bergen County Police Sgt. Vincent DeRienzo told him to pull over on Route 17 in East Rutherford Wednesday morning.

“We thought they were just messing with folks,” Adams wife, Dejuanna, said.

Rather than a summons, DeRienzo handed the Adams family a bottle of non-alcoholic champagne and thanked them for wearing their seat belts.

In a twist, John Pescatore, director of the Bergen County Highway Safety Office, said police were stopping motorists who were wearing their seat belts on the day before Thanksgiving to thank them for obeying the law.

“We thought the best way to get people to wear their seat belts is to enlist the help of those people who are already wearing their seat belts to help us spread the message through word of mouth,” Pescatore said. “It is a positive reinforcement of a good habit.”

About 7 a.m. Wednesday, five officers from the Bergen County Police Department were out handing bottles of a sparkling apple drink imported from Spain to motorists at the Route 17 intersection with Union Avenue in East Rutherford. At the same time, three Mahwah police officers gave out bottles of a non-alcoholic sparkling wine from California at the Franklin Turnpike-Micik Lane intersection.

The champagne, 240 bottles in all, was donated by Goya Foods Inc. of Secaucus and Inserra Supermarkets Inc. of Mahwah.

On a frigid morning, as motorists drove through the rush-hour traffic, the officers would pick a driver at a red light. The drivers looked worried as they pulled over to spots designated by the officers.

A few took the offensive even before an officer spoke. One woman, speaking in rather clinical language, cursed at DeRienzo for stopping her. The officer waved her on.

“People go, `What did I do wrong? ” said Bergen County Police Officer Dwane R. Razzetti, a state-certified seat belt training officer. “Today, we are stopping cars that are properly inspected, where people are wearing their seat belts the opposite reasons that we normally stop cars.”

An exception was a 23-year-old Jersey City woman, who was stopped when an officer spotted her 2-year-old son lying in the front seat, not strapped in. The woman was given a child-restraint seat, instead of a summons.

Most drivers, when they opened their windows to hear the officers announce they were being stopped, were frowning.

“You know why we are stopping you ma’am? ” county police Officer Mark Solimando asked Carlstadt High School guidance counselor Marilyn Persico.

“No,” she answered, frowning.

“We stopped you because you are wearing your seat belt,” Solimando said. He handed her the bottle, and enjoined her not to drink and drive. He also gave her pamphlets with information on how to use seat belts and how to drive in winter conditions.

Like a flower blooming, her face lit into a full smile.

“This is nice,” she said, turning the bottle over in her hand. “This is nice.”

“Have a nice holiday, ma’am,” Solimando said, waving her on.

Caption: COLOR PHOTO – BOB BRUSH / THE RECORD – Officer Chris Zovistoski “citing” Patti Jacobson of Wallington.

COPS READY TO BUCKLE DOWN ON ANYONE NOT BUCKLING UP

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Friday, May 24, 1991

The Record (New Jersey) | One Star Four Star B Two Star | NEWS | Page B04

Operation Domino, the six-month driver-education program that sponsors said helped reduce automobile accidents in Bergen County by about 1,300 last year, worked so well it is getting a second chance this year beginning today.
“Buckle Up and Drive Defensively” will be the theme of Operation Domino Revisited, said John Pescatore, director of the Bergen County Office of Highway Safety.
Bergen County’s 70 police departments will concentrate on enforcing the state seat-belt law, he said. “Every death [on the county’s roadways] is a defeat,” Pescatore said. “When you go to an accident and you see that 17-year-old thrown from the car because he was not wearing a seat belt, when you go to an accident and you see a child thrown through with windshield because she was not in a child-restraint seat, they bring your defeats right before you.”
Last year’s effort a pilot program to see if enforcement, coupled with community awareness and cooperation, would effectively reduce the number of accidents in the county focused on a specific violation each month.
Some of the violations focused on were speeding, tailgating, not coming to a full stop at a stop sign, and failure to signal when changing lanes.
The program was so successful that the county was able to see a 10 percent compliance jump from 45 percent to 55 percent, 5 percent above the state average with the seat belt law, Pescatore said.
Motorists should be more careful this year, Pescatore said, because the slow economy has added more cars to state highways during a season of already high travel. More families than in years past will be planning shorter but more frequent trips to state’s shores and resort areas, he said.
As a result, Bergen County will work with Atlantic County on another pilot program Operation Leapfrog, a series of public service announcements asking residents of the two counties to buckle up, watch their speed, obey the rules of the road, and not drink and drive.

Keywords: BERGEN COUNTY; POLICE; MOTOR VEHICLE; SAFETY; EQUIPMENT; VIOLATION

3 MEN ARE ARRESTED IN EQUIPMENT THEFTS

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Friday, February 22, 1991

The Record (New Jersey) | Four Star B | NEWS| Page B04

The FBI, with help from borough police, on Wednesday arrested three Long Island men who authorities believe are connected to a ring that stole heavy equipment in New York and then resold it.
John T. Sieber, 29, of Mastic Beach; Julio Santo, 24, of Selden; and Carlos Chavere, 22, of Huntington Station were confronted by three FBI agents and four Mahwah officers at the International Motor Plaza on Route 17 in Mahwah.
Special Agent Gary L. Penrith said the men arrived at the plaza about 2:30 a.m. with a stolen John Deere backhoe. They tried to flee on foot, but Santo and Chavere were apprehended. Meanwhile, Sieber ran north on Route 17, jumped a fence, and ran along a railroad line into New York before he was arrested by Ramapo, N.Y., and Suffern, N.Y., police.
Elliot Peters, an assistant U.S. attorney, said the arrests were the result of an investigation into the theft of farm-type tractors and trucks. Seven other suspects have been arrested, and some of them have pleaded guilty, he said.
Ring members scratched out vehicle identification numbers, stamped the vehicles with new numbers to make it difficult to identify them as stolen, and then sold them in New Jersey and New York State, Peters said.
The three are charged with transportation of a stolen motor vehicle, and may face other charges. Santo was released on $25,000 bail Wednesday. Sieber was held at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan on $10,000 bail. Chavere was also transferred to the center and held on $25,000 bail.

Keywords: MAHWAH; THEFT; EQUIPMENT; CONSTRUCTION

HI-TECH LASER SNAGS SPEEDERS COPS EYE `TOTALLY ACCURATE DEVICE

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Saturday, December 15, 1990

The Record (New Jersey) | All Editions | NEWS | Page A03

Lead-foots and speed demons, beware.

New Jersey law-enforcement agencies are examining a laser speed-detection device that its manufacturer says will render radar detectors obsolete.

While radar emits a wide microwave beam, the new device uses a narrow, infrared laser beam that can be detected only after the target car’s speed has been measured. No longer will a motorist be able to argue,”Officer, are you sure you’ve got the right car?”

The device, made by Laser Technology Inc. of Englewood, Colo., can target a vehicle out of a group because of its narrow, 3.5-foot beam at 1,000 feet, compared with the radar-beam width of 200 to 400 feet at the same distance.

The Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office, several police departments from Bergen County, and one from Passaic County were at a demonstration of the device, which costs $3,625, in Fair Lawn on Friday. Earlier in the day, Mike Phippen, marketing director for the company, gave a demonstration to the state police.

“It’s amazing; it’s totally accurate,” said Oradell police Lt. Edgar Brennen. “The biggest hurdle that this thing faces is in the courts, and the fact that it has to be recognized as an accurate tool. Once the courts accept it, it will be all over.

Caption: PHOTO – ROBERT S. TOWNSEND / THE RECORD – Bergen County Police Officer Dwane Razzetti testing a new laser speed-detection gun on Friday.