Posted by : Matthew Nazzaro  On June 19th, 2025 3:59 pm

      

As Cranford's youngest residents prepare for their summer break from school, the Cranford Police Department aims to partner with parents and the youth community to address two key safety concerns we have observed in recent months.

Since January 2025, the Cranford Police Department has responded to over fifty incidents involving juveniles pounding on the doors and windows of houses before running away. We want to clarify that we are not referring to playful “ring-and-runs,” but rather to deliberate attempts to disrupt households. These incidents occur at all hours of the day and night. Although some may feel these actions do not warrant police engagement, each call received by the Cranford Police Department necessitates a police response. In certain cases, specific houses have been targeted repeatedly, causing significant disturbances for the families involved and diverting police resources for follow-up investigations and strategic patrols. While some children may view this behavior as a “rite of passage,” those affected have reported these actions to the police as harassment. Additionally, pounding on a stranger’s door carries inherent risks, especially as residents’ sensitivities may be heightened due to a recent increase in burglaries in houses and vehicles throughout the state. We encourage parents and guardians to discuss with their children the importance of making sound decisions and the potential consequences of engaging in unlawful or disruptive behavior, particularly in relation to neighbors within our community.

We also want to collaborate with our parent community to enhance bicycle and e-bike safety. Over the past year, the Cranford Police Department has responded to multiple bicycle crashes in which juvenile cyclists sustained significant injuries, with many of these incidents being the result of mistakes made by the juvenile cyclists themselves. With the growing popularity of e-bikes, juvenile cyclists can reach speeds of up to (and sometimes exceeding) 18 miles per hour. If a cyclist traveling at that speed collides with a vehicle going 25 miles per hour, it results in a crash equivalent to 43 miles per hour. Apart from speed and inattention, groups of juvenile cyclists have been observed riding in the middle of the road (including North Avenue and South Avenue), blocking traffic, and riding through congested parking lots including the Municipal Parking Deck in Downtown Cranford. It only takes one careless driver or cyclist to result in a tragic incident on our roadways. While we continue to address pedestrian and cyclist safety through enforcement, strategic engineering, and education, we again ask for your support in discussing the “rules of the road” with your children.

In New Jersey, anyone under the age of 17 is required to wear a helmet. Many children leave home with their helmets hanging from their bicycle handles or without wearing them properly secured. Over the next year, the Cranford Police Department will introduce a comprehensive bicycle safety program targeted at our middle school population to complement our existing bicycle rodeo programming for fourth graders. Additionally, we are excited to partner with the Cranford Jaycees and local pizzerias to offer positive incentives for our youth cyclists through the “Keep Calm, Helmet On” reward program. We want our youth to cycle through our Township and enjoy the benefits of our community this Summer – but with safety in mind.

We hope all of our youth enjoy a safe and fun summer. We appreciate every parent’s help in partnering with us to keep our kids safe during the extended break from school. Thank you for taking the time to read this message, and we wish you all a safe and healthy summer with your families.

 

In partnership,

 

Matthew R. Nazzaro

Chief of Police