The Miami Beach Police Department (MBPD) has developed several initiatives to promote bicycle safety, community policing, and civic engagement. As part of these initiatives, this year, the MBPD hosted the Unity Bike Ride, a bicycle ride that brings together dozens of police chiefs and officers from around the greater Miami area. The ride, which took place in February 2018, started outside Joe’s Stone Crab in South Beach, wound its way to North Beach, and ended on Espanola Way. Along the route, riders made frequent stops to engage local students, residents, and visitors. Stops focusing on children included South Point Elementary, North Beach Elementary, and Fienberg Fisher K-8 Center.
Founded in 2008 and headquartered in South Florida, goTRG (The Recon Group Inc.) is a leader in the implementation and execution of omni-channel and supply chain solutions. In other words, goTRG implements innovative business solutions to help improve companies’ productivity, efficiency, and profit. By now, the company has totaled millions of dollars in sales, has 6 facilities, 1.1 million square feet and locations in 4 countries, and over a thousand employees. Late in 2017, CEO Sender Shamiss explained that he saw 2018 as the year to “Pay it Forward,” stating that “after record-breaking sales in 2017, goTRG [would] be sharing its success throughout the communities in South Florida in the new year.” To achieve that, Shamiss launched the “Give Back 2018” program and challenged his employees to select a community program, event, or organization to partner and volunteer with every month.
The City of Miami Beach was the first to benefit from this program when goTRG selected Fienberg-Fisher K-8 Center for its initial outreach. Along with several holiday gifts for students and 25 laptops for the school, goTRG committed to help the school build a robotics lab and outfit it with the necessary technological equipment.
During that initial outreach, CEO Shamiss had the opportunity to talk about his business model and solutions with Chief Oates, while Chief Oates mentioned several community policing initiatives, including the upcoming Unity Bike Ride. CEO Shamiss, knowing goTRG had a significant number of bicycles in its warehouse, offered to sponsor the Ride and donate 500 to 600 bicycles for community youth. The time-consuming logistics involved with shipping and refurbishing such a significant number of bicycles did not, however, allow for this to be possible by the ride day. Despite this, goTRG is still willing to donate the bicycles to the MBPD, with an understanding that 8-10 officers from the MBPD Support and Service Division will help the local goTRG team refurbish the bicycles. Refurbishing should take no longer than two weeks. The bicycles will be stored at the MBPD and distributed by officers during police initiatives or community events promoting bicycle awareness and safety, including Cyclovia. The retail value of the bicycles is estimated to be $45,000 to $50,000.