Crime & Safety
Woodward Dream Cruise Was Smooth Sailing in Ferndale
Police Chief Tim Collins tells City Council on Monday night that there were no accidents or arrests during the event Saturday.
Ferndale Police Chief Tim Collins reported to the City Council on Monday night that the 2011 was incident-free.
"It was very good," he said. "There were no Dream Cruise-related accidents, no Dream Cruise-related incidences."
Collins has worked all 17 Dream Cruises, moving up the ranks from lieutenant to captain and now chief.
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"We usually have a few, but I have been to all 17 of them as a command officer and we have had very few incidents," Collins told Ferndale Patch on Tuesday.
He said one year an Oakland County mounted officer was hit by a car, but the horse and officer were not injured. He added that there have been a few larcenies.
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"One time a golf cart was stolen and we arrested a bunch of drunks driving (it) down Ardmore," he said.
He also said that there have been Cruise attendees egging drivers to do burnouts, but "this has not occurred for several years."
Ferndale Fire Chief Kevin Sullivan said there were a few minor medical runs during the Dream Cruise.
"We had a couple of medicals during the cruise that we handled, but no one was seriously hurt and there were no serious medical runs," he said.
At approximately 5 p.m. Saturday, the official day of the Dream Cruise, a storm blew through Oakland County, hitting Royal Oak hard and knocking out power to more than 6,000 businesses and residents in that city. The outage resulted in officials shutting down the Dream Cruise early, although cruisers and car fans came back out after the rain.
Due to the storm damage, Collins said that he offered the Ferndale Police Department's services to Royal Oak but they weren't needed.
Sullivan did the same with the fire department, but those services were not needed either.
"We did keep a few men on overtime, longer than what was scheduled after the wind sheer (in Royal Oak) and after the wires went down," he said.
Woodward Dream Cruise event coordinator for Ferndale Michael Lary said despite the rain, it was a good year.
"It went very smoothly, other than the rain," he said.
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