Hey, thanks for stopping by! If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to the RSS feed. You can also subscribe to BikeHacks by email. Thanks for visiting!
The following comes via the Bicycling web site.
Bicycle patrols — a community policing tactic that some law enforcement agencies de-emphasized in recent years — are seeing a resurgence as the price of gasoline approaches or surpasses $4 a gallon across the country.
“You think the car’s the great savior of us all, but in urban areas and dense areas, you’re probably better off on a bike,” said Chris Menton, an associate professor in the School of Justice Studies at Roger Williams University in Rhode Island who has studied police bike patrols.
I don’t know about most of you, but I’m pretty sure I could out ride just about any officer on a bike. An alarming number of officers look quite out of shape to me. But they do have those pesky radio things in their favor.
Full story here.
Kinda related posts
Filed Under: culture
5 comments for this entry ↓
1 Dave // May 29, 2008 at 10:13 am
You may be able to out ride a bike cop but catching bike bloggers is not the purpose of having cops on bikes.
The purpose is to generate a conspicuous presence in the area that is patrolled just like it is with those big police cruisers.
there may be many advantages to the bikes (you can actually hear the mugging 10 feet away) but the only reason they are there is because having a consistent conspicuous police presence is an effective crime prevention method.
2 Anonymous // May 29, 2008 at 11:18 am
What the f*ck is this bullshit? Even in a bike news site the best reason for bike polices they can find is “rising gas prices!”
How about “cops on bikes are more easily reached by the people than their co-workers who spend the day inside the climate controlled safety of a car.”
Or “cops on bikes can respond to smaller issues because stopping a bike is easier than getting out of a car.”
Seems like the only reason America has come up for bicycling is the f*cking gasoline which, on global scale, is actually bloody damn cheap!
3 Mark // May 29, 2008 at 12:52 pm
I’m from DC, and to be a bike cop there you have to go thru rigorous training. You couldn’t outride a DC bike cop, trust me.
4 Bryant // May 30, 2008 at 12:04 am
This reminds me of one of Bill Ketzer’s stories:
http://www.bikereader.com/contributors/ketzer/felony.html
Yes, he did outrun a bike cop
5 Bill // Jul 22, 2008 at 12:51 pm
Of the several reasons for bike cops, university campus police agencies have several other reasons. One of the main reasons for bicycle patrol at my department is that we have a core part of campus in which MOTOR vehicles are banned by the administration. Our other optional methods of transport in the core are on foot and on Segways. Going by foot is too slow for rapid response to calls and going by Segway looks dorky and has some range/weight limitations.
Going by the most efficient human powered transportation not only allows rapid response by officers, it also keeps officers in good physical condition, increases the public’s access to the officers, increases the officer’s awareness of his/her surroundings (by removing the glass/metal cage from around the officer), and saves gas.
I am currently training for the very intense IPMBA course used to certify Georgia officers for bicycle patrol by bicycle commuting.
Finally, our biggest ace-in-the-hole is the teamwork that comes with being on the radio with each other. I might have a hard time keeping up with the Lance Armstrongs of the world … or even someone 100 lbs lighter than me, but I can tell my fellow officers where to find you.
Besides, chasing cyclists is such a rare occurrence that the OTHER uses for bike patrol, such as the ability to roll up on a drug deal in bicycle ninja quietness, far outweigh the need to chase Lance.
Leave a Comment