Hi, whats all you guys opinion on officers using bicycles to patrol?

Does anyone have any views on the use of push bikes to do patrol in your forces?

It allows you to cover a wider area than if you were on foot and good at keeping fit!

I've put this in UK policing to fill up gaps but could just as well go anywhere else.

We have them here in Dublin. They work close with the mounted unit on Dublin main shopping street Grafton St. The mound unit can see shop lifters as they are higher than crowd and then the bike units are dispatched to catch the criminals. I think its a good idea as theyre alot faster than a foot patrol but i do think police in vehicles or on bikes are to the public unapproachable or less so then a foot patrol. I think some bikes are to be used but also to have the foot patrols there as more of a presence

In a large city, you will always need foot patrol. If there are alot of subjects on foot, you need to be on foot. If you like in suburbia where 95% of the subjects are in vehicles, then you don't need foot patrol. In my agency in FLorida, there are no foot patrols. But it's suburbia.

I'm originally from NYC, and there is every kind of patrol out there, including bicycle patrol. I think they're very effective when used in conjuction with foot patrol, but not as a replacment. The mounted patrol is effective mostly for crowd control and show-of-force.

In Avon an Somerset, they only have a few, they use them in small villages where cars have difficulty getting to.

A couple of photo's of bike patrol officers from http://www.ukemergency7.f9.co.uk/policecycles4.htm

Personally I don't like the idea. I would find an Officer much easier to approach if they were walking and not cycling.

Yes. But not all officers are intended to be approachable. If this was the case, there would be no undercovers. You have the public-relation, public servants and you have the show of force and ability to do it. Sometimes you go to the "approachable" officer to report the crime while the so-called "un-approachable" catches the subject and brings him to justice, sometimes also returning your property.

But in this case, high-profile uniformed Officers are supposed to be exactly that - approachable. It allows Officers to gain intellgence from MoPs.

This is debatable. I don't think that officers on bicycles are intended to gather information and be approachable. I also feel that even though they may not be as approachable as foot-patrol, they are moreso than vehicle-patrol and moreso than mounted as well.

I like the idea of the Police using bikes. Because they will be able to get to somewhere quicker than running on foot.

If officers are hard to approach on a bike, imagine what the perception is for those in squads!

I've heard of bicycle use in policing here in the US, but I can't think of ever seeing its use in Minnesota. Mounted Patrol certainly is, as is motorcycle patrol.

As previouusly mentioned, bike patrol tend to be a suburban thing. I've heard it being used in MN, but like I said, never seen it.

When I first saw officers on modern day bicycles I couldn't believe it - Were they really "Police" !

I realise now that they are only following on from a tradition of the "Village Bobby" cycling round his village (cycle clips n' all!).

Not only do they provide a valuable crime fighting front, but also show police as down to earth & part of the community

In my borough (Barking and Dagenham in the Met) we have a new unit of officers who are more community geared, back to the old Bobby on the Beat I think, and some of these folks have push bikes. Personally I'd rather not have a bike unless it's got at least a 600cc engine! But the aforementioned officers don't respond to call's but they do work more closely with the communities and school's.

Actually, thinking about it, I remember when I was a kid we had a copper on a push bike so this isn't anything new, it's re hashing an old idea.

It also show's the public that there is a Police presence in the area and makes them feel safer when out walking or riding.

I think they are a great idea but I did once knock a fellow officer off his bike with my car, wasn't amused as we were chasing the same suspect! To my defence he did come out of a blind alley without looking!!