Kingston Police Chief Egidio Tinti said he is looking at stepped-up enforcement of regulations on e-bikes, including impoundment of vehicles and holding parents accountable for allowing their children to illegally ride overpowered e-motos on city streets. Tinti’s remarks come as city police struggle to get a handle on a rash of accidents involving e-bikes and complaints of reckless riding as the vehicles have exploded in popularity.

“Some of these kids, their parents and guardians are getting them these bikes without really understanding the ramifications of these high-torque, high-speed units,” Tinti told members of the city’s Police Commission at a Sept. 16 meeting. “They’re just not responsible, they’re not adhering to the laws, so that’s part of the enforcement change we’re going to be making.”

New York State law prohibits children under the age of 16 from operating any sort of e-bike. The law also restricts “e-motos” that go faster than 28 mph to off-road use. But, Tinti said, both rules are regularly flouted on the streets of Kingston in ways that pose a challenge to beat cops. Tinti told commissioners that KPD officers have been receiving training on e-bike laws while he has tasked the department’s Traffic Safety Unit with coming up with an enforcement-based plan to deal with reckless riding. Since 2020, the KPD has moved to a “community policing” model that emphasizes friendly interactions and trust-building over more punitive measures. But conditions on city streets over the past six months had left him with no choice, Tinti said.

“We don’t want to go there, because we are a community-oriented law enforcement organization,” Tinti told Kingston Wire. “But it’s reached a point where it’s become difficult to manage and it’s creating a real traffic safety issue.”

Enforcement of e-bike laws faces its own set of challenges, starting with actually catching violators on speedy bikes that can go on sidewalks and down alleyways where patrol cars can’t follow. Police are also reluctant to engage in pursuits on busy city streets, especially ones involving juvenile riders. Tinti said he was trying to address the issue of elusive e-bikes by pairing the Traffic Safety Unit with KPD’s e-bike-equipped bike patrol as well as utilizing a network of cameras at intersections around the city to track down and cite violators who evade police at home.

“We flip on the lights and sometimes they stop, sometimes they don’t stop,” said Tinti. “And when they don’t stop, the fact is they can go places where our patrol cars can’t.”

Tinti said that the department was also exploring issuing tickets to parents for their kids reckless riding or riding non-street-legal e-motos. In California recently enacted legislation explicitly makes parents and guardians responsible for their children’s e-bike safety violations. But, Tinti said, efforts locally would be more challenging since parents must “knowingly” allow their children to ride e-motos on city streets.

“If the parent says, ‘Yeah I let my kid use [an illegal e-bike],’ then it’s ‘OK here’s your ticket, but if the parent says, ‘I didn’t even know they took it’ or ‘I told them not to go on the

road’ it’s difficult,” said Tinti. “We’re working that piece out right now. But if the parent bought it for them … the parent is responsible.”

Tinti said the department also plans to expand its use of impoundment for illegally operated e-bikes and e-motos by all ages. The city charges a $250 towing fee for impounded vehicles and another $250 storage fee to get the bike back. The $500 penalty approaches or exceeds the value of most bikes, making it a potentially effective deterrent.

Mayor Steve Noble, who serves as chair of the Police Commission, said he believes state law is lagging behind the popularity of e-bikes but is starting to catch up. Noble noted that the state has begun to crack down on online retailers shipping illegal e-motos to addresses in New York, cutting them off at the source.

"It really has been a challenge for our law enforcement because obviously this is a new thing that we’re dealing with,” said Noble. “We already had lots of drivers not doing the right thing, now with those 25,000 calls for service that we go on we’re now adding in a new type of issue that we’re trying to fix that was not generated or caused by us.”