Mountain BikePolice
Have you ever strolled along a bustling town center on a perfect summer day and looked upon police officers patrolling on their mountain bikes with envy, thinking "boy that's a dream job". I recently had the chance to hang out and ride with a veteran Mountain Bike Cop from North Carolina's capital city of 380,000 people. If you think Mountain Bike Cops just ride along parks and greenways as a public display, you would be wrong, very wrong. I learned that they are doing real police work that just happens to be from the saddle instead of the patrol car. According to the International Police Mountain Bike Association (IPMBA) (yes there is such an organization), Mountain Bikes are one of the fastest growing trends in law enforcement.
Urban Mountain Bike Patrol Ride Along
 As I secured my Specialized FSR to the corner bike rack, I wondered if it was really necessary since I would be hanging out with the police all day. Even though I had modified my ride with flats and locked out the rear suspension, this bike was strangely out of place in the city and would stick out like a sore thumb. As I sat waiting in the bagel shop for my guide, I wondered if the rain would stop; we were riding rain or shine. Soon the officer pulled up on his Trek hardtail fully modified for the street with beefy slicks, stem spacers for an upright ride and saddlebags for equipment including a laptop. The standard issue included Shimano cranks and a Deore rear derailleur and a Judy fork, all of which seemed sufficient and appropriate for the task. This, of course, does not include the 15 pounds of standard personal gear including a Smith & Wesson .45, tazer, pepper spray, two sets of cuffs, flashlight and more. The only difference in uniform is that the bike patrol get blues made of wicking polyester for obvious reasons. But unfortunately (or fortunately depending on how your day is going), a standard bullet-proof vest is worn underneath.
Before "our" shift started we discussed how mountain bikes factor into official police business. This city has a full-time mountain bike staff of ten officers who work full time, year round on bike patrol - hot or cold, rain or shine. They maintain a fleet of 12 or 13 bikes made up of Trek and Fuji brands and have a contract with a local bike shop to keep the fleet maintained. For comparison, consider that the average patrol car costs $60,000 and these bikes can be gotten for under $1,000 with much lower maintenance overhead. So what does the city get for all this savings?
 Well first of all, patrolling on a mountain bike enables officers to interface more often and on a more personal level with the public. But wait. Before you write this off as a "feel good" public relations strategy, realize that this means officers can get to know the neighborhood much more intimately. They get closer, see faces, have conversations, hear names, notice hand movements and sense body language in ways that cannot be done from a patrol car sitting 30 feet from a street corner or storefront or sidewalk. Thus the bike patrol knows the neighborhood better than anyone. This was made clear to me five minutes into our shift when my guide suddenly pulled behind a vacant building after passing a pedestrian on the street to whom he referred by name. As I rounded the building to follow him, he already had his laptop out and was running a check, believing there may be a warrant for his arrest. Any thought of a peaceful stroll thru the city today was now gone as I quickly realized this was real police work going on, and the only difference was that it was on a mountain bike. Fortunately this character was not wanted. After that we rode thru the worst section of town to check on the drug dealers and prostitutes. Sure enough, as we rounded one corner a group of thugs disbanded, calling out our arrival to the next block over, who then called out to the following block and so on like a relay system of smoke signals. Sometime later as we stood over our bikes in the town square discussing the plight of homeless people, a flamboyant character strolled by, offered greetings and moved on. Seconds later, the name was up on the laptop with a rap sheet that included sexual assault and indecent exposure. This individual apparently was recently released from a mental health center with nowhere to go. Just then a call came over the radio about a minor traffic accident and off we went, which brings me to the second thing Mountain Bike Cops can do that other cops cannot.
  As we pedaled down city streets thru the heart of downtown, we moved over sidewalks, jumped curbs, went the wrong direction down a one-way street, weaved past cars stuck at traffic lights, and blew thru stop signs. With no sirens or lights, the onus was on us to avoid being hit. But we were first on the scene as the nearest patrol car was stuck in traffic many blocks back. Our officer was proud of the fact that he could get thru downtown quicker than anyone, and it was true. I stood and waited for the next 20 minutes while he checked for injuries, interviewed the "participants" and filed his report, which uploaded automatically from the laptop to central command. Cool stuff. By the way, the patrol car showed up about the same time as the tow truck, a full 12 minutes after we had arrived on the scene with our bikes.
The third big advantage of patrolling on a mountain bike is stealth. As trail riders we are all too familiar with the possibility of whipping around a bend behind a group of clueless hikers. Well imagine sneaking up on crime in progress. Early in our shift, we checked on the mid-day liquor store crowd. As we steered our bikes thru the narrow, mud and gravel alley behind the store, we surprised someone cutting down a perfectly healthy tree for firewood to fuel a "beer" camp nearby, where the local unemployed gather in the woods during the day. Just a few seconds later, we popped out of the woods onto a sidewalk and surprised a couple in the middle of a small domestic dispute. Apparently the harmless wrestling match between lovers for the wheel of a parked car had something to do with him not wanting her to leave. Remember the relay system earlier when our presence was called out from street corner to street corner? Well, according to our guide, the locals know the sound of a patrol car's engine without even seeing the car and can alert their companions well before an officer is in the vicinity. At least on a bike you can be seen but not heard. We took a jaunt down a local urban greenway and surprised a group of teens who threw something in the grass on our approach, which turned out to be just litter and not contraband. Our officer gave me a lesson on hand movements and how to spot someone with a crack pipe. It's all in a days work.
 We rode to the shop which is a small, nondescript lot in the heart of downtown. The metal warehouse building holds about 12 bikes and has a small workbench, bike stand and all the tools needed. There's even a dedicated drawer full of extra tubes. Most of the officers do their own daily maintenance and petty repairs there on site, but the major stuff is handled by a local shop.
As we wrapped things up over a coffee break, I realized that we had ridden about 10 miles over somewhat hilly terrain and we were only about a third of the way thru the shift. By my estimate, this officer routinely covers 20-30 miles a day on his bike thru some pretty demanding urban terrain, and doing real police work all along. This may not be a multi-day, back country epic ride, but it's a good workout and no one would say it lacks adventure. Personally, I would feel safer behind the glass and steel of a patrol car doing this job, but I'm thankful we have Mountain Bike enthusiasts to enforce the law. |