Brooklyn Bike Patrol Expands to Ditmas Park

If you’d like a safe escort on your way home at night, the Brooklyn Bike Patrol has just expanded to cover parts of our area.

BBP came together after a string of sexual assaults hit Brooklyn from Bay Ridge to Park Slope in 2011, and is made up of pre-screened male volunteers who meet people at train stations around Brooklyn and accompany them to their front doors, or any other safe location in their neighborhood (a friend’s house, a restaurant, etc.).

They will now be able to escort people home from subway stations on the Q line as far as Newkirk Plaza. Hours of operation are Sunday to Thursday, 8pm to midnight, and Friday and Saturday, 8pm to 4am. To arrange a BBP escort, call 718-744-7592 about 45 minutes before you board your train.

They’re also looking for volunteers. BBP president Jay Ruiz tells us that each volunteer must have a clean background (they check references and police records), own a bike, and be willing to go to others area as well. People are needed to volunteer at least twice a week.

“Also I make sure all my volunteers understand this isn’t a dating game,” he says.

If you’d like to volunteer with BBP, call Jay at 718-744-7592 during evenings between 6-7:30pm.

Photo via BBP