Posted by Jane Feehan
Kids have always managed to find mischief. These days arrest-worthy shenanigans may be computer, drug or gun-related. During the mid-1940s in Fort Lauderdale, law enforcement was concerned about kids on bicycles.
Bikes weren't causing problems; it was the sirens youngsters mounted on them that sounded like ambulances, fire trucks and police cars.
The Fort Lauderdale Daily News found the problem noteworthy enough to publish a brief front-page story about it June 5, 1945 when law enforcement announced an initiative to do away with sirens.
"Owners of bicycles with sirens will be arrested," said Police Chief R.A. Addison. He warned the public that sirens were to be used only by emergency vehicles and police cars.
"I don't like to arrest a bunch of kids," said Addison, "but these unauthorized sirens cause too much trouble."
Those halcyon days ...
Fee-based license tags were required for bicycles in the 1940s and into the 1960s. In 1945, 2,608 bike tags were purchased for about a dollar each at local police stations or schools. By August of the following year, sales slumped to 1,138. By the early 1960s, tags were issued for $10 for two years. Today, registration is required but there is no fee. The Fort Lauderdale Police Department recently reported nearly 2,400 bicycles have been stolen over the last five years; that number does not include thefts of unregistered bicycles.
And ... there have been no published reports of arrests for nuisance bicycle sirens, no doubt a short-lived fad.
Tags: Fort Lauderdale in the 1940s, Fort Lauderdale crime in the 1940s, Fort Lauderdale history, Fort Lauderdale history
Sources:
Fort Lauderdale Daily News, June 5, 1945
Fort Lauderdale News, July 26, 1946
Fort Lauderdale Daily News, Aug. 20, 1946
Fort Lauderdale Daily News, Feb. 18, 1950
