Operation: Dust Devil is the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department’s effort to curb illegal off-roading throughout the county. The initiative kicked off on Saturday December 17, and is scheduled for four and half months. It will include stepped up enforcement, rider education, and unique approaches to reaching off-roaders who may be illegally trespassing or damaging native ecosystems.
Illegal off-roading is a particularly sensitive issue here in the Morongo Basin. While many outsiders consider our stretch of the Mojave Desert a vast wasteland, residents know that our environment is full of fragile plants, endangered wildlife, and a finely balanced eco-sytem, not to mention acres of unfenced private property.
The head of the Morongo Basin Sheriff’s Station, Captain Robert Warrick, had a conversation with Z107.7 Publisher Gary Daigneault on his Up-Close Show, during which Captain Warrick shed some light on the ins and outs of Operation: Dust Devil.
Warrick said, “What a lot of people don’t realize, especially if you’re not from this area, it just looks like one big desert — one big dirt bike track. There are several residents here in the Morongo Basin who have called to complain about OHV (off highway vehicle) activity who are enthusiasts themselves. They’re not trying to stop people from riding at all.
“There are those select few people who don’t respect people’s property. Just because it’s a dirt road doesn’t mean you can ride your dirt bike there. We have designated areas for riding, we have Johnson Valley so close and it’s a great place to ride.
“Illegal activity becomes a quality-of-life issue when you wake up at 6:30 because somebody is riding a quad right next to your house. A lot of these dirt roads are not maintained and a lot of times communities get together and pay for maintenance out of their own pockets, so when people fly around on OHVs and they tear up the roads it can be a financial nuisance to the neighbors.
“It’s hard to take a sheriff’s cruiser across the desert when you’re chasing a dirt bike but the Sheriff’s Department has received some funding and we sent deputies and corporals and sergeants from several different stations, many of whom have OHV experience for training. These deputies are assigned to this task force, and they’ll be on dirt bikes, razors, quads, Jeeps, 4x4s, and they’re going to get it out to where the riders are.
“Our plan is to educate riders who don’t know that ii is illegal. They might have a licensed bike that they are the legal owner of, they might not know that they’re doing anything wrong. So the deputies are going to use their own discretion on those cases. If it’s a father and son riding or somebody who appears to genuinely not know that it’s illegal, we will point them to the areas where they legally can ride and then continue to monitor the situation.
“This isn’t going to be a one weekend or one month operation.
We’ve told people over and over it is illegal to ride here, and if it’s not going to be education that changes things, it will be citations, unfortunately. But our goal is to educate them, encourage them to ride in designated areas.”
When asked how a citizen can report illegal off-highway activity, Captain Warrick said that people can contact the Morongo Basin Sheriff’s Station at their non-emergency number or use the Sheriff’s specific email address for Operation Dust Devil, [email protected]
