Joe Manna and his partner were on their bicycles as the man ran toward them, fleeing officers in a Westchester Police Department squad car.
“He ran right up to us–just a couple of guys on bikes–and we calmed him down,” said Manna, who is a Westchester cop, a bicycle patrolman. It was a domestic dispute, not a major caper, but once again the concept of police riding bikes demonstrated its worth.
“We’re just closer to people when we’re on a bike instead of in a car,” said Sgt. Roger Zawacki of the River Forest Police Department. “You see the world from a different perspective.”
Pioneered more than a decade ago in big city police departments, use of the bicycle as a law-enforcement tool has spread to suburbs, small towns, forest preserves and even the White House.
While bicycles have always been used by policeman in countries such as Britain and the Netherlands, they gained widespread popularity in the U.S. only in the mid-1980s when adults started using fat-tired mountain bicycles that also appeared to be well-engineered for urban police work.
“It took the off-road mountain bike to get police interested,” said Jennifer Horan, executive director of the International Police Mountain Bike Association, based in Baltimore. “The mountain bike is a strong vehicle that allows an officer to have an upright position. He’s able to see and manuever on a mountain bike in ways that are more difficult on a road bike.”
The great resurgence of adult bicycling in America began in the late 1960s as part of a general fitness craze. But at that time bicycles were 10-speed racers or 3-speed touring machines. Both had thin tires and were meant to be ridden on paved roads.
Mountain bikes combined the sturdiness of Schwinn balloon-tire kids’ bikes of the 1950s with the multispeed technology of ’60s racing bikes and were built for hobbyists who enjoyed going off-road.
Police in cities from New York to Los Angeles began using the heavy bikes and found them excellent for patrolling in parks and congested areas, said Horan. The idea spread from big cities to suburbs and smaller towns in a ripple effect, she said.
“Our membership really grew rapidly until about 1998, and since then it’s been a slower growth because police bicycle units have become very widespread now,” Horan said.
IPMBA provides officers with special training in such things as riding up and down stairs, securing the bicycle quickly while dismounting so it won’t be stolen and how to fall without being seriously injured.
“I was a recreational rider before I began riding on patrol,” said Sgt. Zawacki, “and you really do need the extra training. I sometimes have to talk on my radio while riding. You may have to jump curbs. You need both skill and a sturdy bike.”
Some bicycle shops and bike manufacturers cater to police patrol units. Though it isn’t a huge market, police bikes represent a signicant niche, said John Burke, president of the Trek Bicycle Corp. based in Waterloo, Wis.
Trek sells about 1,700 police bikes a year, and a few years ago Burke got to visit the White House when he outfitted the Secret Service with Treks.
“We supplied them with six bikes to start with, and they were very pleased with them,” said Burke. “I think they have about 16 bikes now.”
While many bike retailers may sell to one or two police departments, Oak Park Cyclery is one of the few shops in the region that caters to the security market, said Lisa Zordani, who runs the store with her brother, Don.
“We get two or three new departments every year,” she said. “Most recently we sold some bikes to the campus security unit at Triton College (in River Grove). Usually a department will start small, getting two or three bikes to see how it goes.
“Then the next year, they’ll expand.” Oak Park Cyclery provides Treks that are basically mountain bikes modified with silent hubs that make no noise when pedaling, heavy-duty wheels and everything reinforced. The shop also can provide blue and white blinking lights but only for law- enforcement officials.
Sirens are optional.
“Trek, Schwinn and Raleigh all provide customized police bikes,” Zordani said. “These bikes retail for about $1,000, but we give police a 30 percent discount.”
The bikes come in basic black with letters saying POLICE, and departments can order stickers for the bikes as well as police uniforms in bike clothing.
Oak Park Cyclery also gives police bikes priority on repairs, providing a quick turnaround to get the bicycles back on the street.
Among the advantages of using bicycles on police patrol is cost. According to IPMBA, a police agency can supply about 15 officers with bicycles for about the same cost of one police car.
“An officer on a bike can do just about anything one in a squad car can do,” said Sgt. Zawacki. “We can’t chase down someone driving away in a car, but we have radios to alert others to do that. If you look at the cost of putting an officer on the street with a bicycle compared to a squad car or a motorcycle, the figures very much favor the bike.”
Because bicycle theft is a major concern in many low-crime suburbs such as River Forest, putting police on bikes makes especially good sense. Zawacki estimates the village has 750 bike thefts a year, and the department has run sting operations to nab bike thieves.
In Elmwood Park, the department has three bicycles, and officers often use them to patrol in parks and along parade routes, said Officer Matt Rieger, who often rides his bike back and forth to work as well as on patrol.
“You really need a mountain bike for this type of riding,” Rieger said. “A road bike would give you bent rims, flat tires and a lot more repairs than the mountain bike. The thin tires of a road bike can get caught in a sewer grate. I just wouldn’t want to try using one for police work.”
Westchester’s Manna rides a road bike on his days off, but he prefers his police specialized mountain bike at work.
“It has a more comfortable seat with a shock absorber in the seat stem and an extended handlebar neck to bring the bars up and make them more comfortable,” he said. “When you put in 25 to 30 miles on a shift, you want that extra comfort.”
As with any technology, people who design bikes seek to improve their product. Electric bicycles that can provide extra power for officers on wheels have been donated to several departments in Northern Illinois by ComEd.
Several electric utilities around the country have donated electric bikes to police agencies the last few years, said Horan of IPBMA.
“Electric bikes may be useful,” said Horan, “but they’re new enough that they haven’t gained a defined role in police work as yet. As more departments try electric bikes, they probably will find their niche.”
