Seaford PD Gets Grant Support For Electric Motorcycles

Seaford Police will get electric motorcycles through a State of Delaware grant program.

If Seaford City Council goes along, the Police Department can go about acquiring electric motorcycles, made for law enforcement by Zero Motorcycles. $70,000 in the Delaware Grants-in-Aid Budget for Fiscal Year 2022 will allow Seaford PD to purchase two electric motorcycles and needed support equipment, according to House Minority Leader Danny Short (R-Seaford) and Seaford Police Chief Marshall Craft.

Electric motorcycles can travel 176 miles on a full charge, and they are less noisy, allowing officers to more easily converse with residents during community policing. They can also reach a top speed of more than 100 miles-an-hour. A full charge costs about $1.62.

Seaford would become the second law enforcement agency in Delaware to use electric motorcycles, after the University of Delaware Police Department.

“Chief Craft and I went to the University of Delaware to see them in operation,” Short said. “Not only are they the only police agency in the state using electric bikes, they operate the same make and model the Seaford PD is considering. They are very responsive and equally capable on the street, riding along a path, or cruising at low speed through a park or playground.”