The Philadelphia Police Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to funding equipment, training and programs to the Philadelphia Police Department not included in the city’s annual budget, presented 450 sets of front and rear bicycle lights to the Police Bike Patrol Unit to provide safety and visibility to all bike police officers on patrol throughout the city.

Maureen Rush, Police Foundation President and Vice President for Public Safety Superintendent of Police at the University of Pennsylvania, presented the lighting devices to Deputy Police Commissioner Richard Ross at the Police Administration Building. The Foundation raised $28,815 to purchase the front and back lights.

Also participating in the presentation were bike officers, members of the Foundation’s Board, police commanders, and John McNesby, Foundation board member and President of the Fraternal Order of Police, Lodge #5.

“The Police Foundation Board is always looking at ways to protect our men and women in blue. The Commissioner’s Office and John McNesby recently made us aware that bike officers in Philadelphia were unrecognizable on patrol at night because their bikes lacked a front light for illumination and a rear red light for visibility in traffic,” Rush explained.

Based on this information, Rush said the Police Foundation made purchasing bike lights an immediate priority in order to create a safer more visible nighttime situation so officers can see and be seen while patrolling on highly-trafficked or dimly-lit city streets and alleys.

The front light is a NiteRider Lumina 350, which is cordless and has a long-lasting rechargeable ion battery with 500 lumens of light. The light can be easily detached and used as a flashlight. The rear unit is a NiteRider Cherry Bomb, a multi-directional unit that maximizes visibility by dispersing light to the sides.

The Foundation recently presented two trucks and two twin-stall horse trailers to the Police Department’s Mounted Patrol Unit and donated $26,000 for the purchase of 30 new bulletproof vests for use by the department’s men and women. The Philadelphia Police Foundation (www.phillypolicefoundation.org) was established in 1999 by civic and corporate leaders in the Philadelphia region as “A Force Behind the Shield.”