If youve ever seen a bicycle police officer riding on the sidewalk or otherwise improperly, heres the police point of view, from Kirby Beck, a veteran cop in MN and a trainer with the International Police Mountain Bike Association (IPMBA), one of the organizations that trains the bike cops. He is also a CyclingSavvy supporter and wrote about bicycle law and bicyclist rights in a 2013 issue of Law and Order magazine. ----- Bike patrol isnt like recreational riding or commuting - its about doing effective police work. Bikes have advantages over cars because they ARENT on the street all the time. They can go lots of different places that need police protection. The people you need to talk to or keep an eye on arent out in the street, they are up on the sidewalk, in parks, behind apartments, all over. In high drug sale areas the dealers will often set up on a sidewalk near a one way street where they watch for police cars coming their way. They never see the bike cop approaching on the sidewalk from the other direction. They are told to use MORE CAUTION, not less caution, when using a sidewalk. Basic IPMBA training tries to teach them how to ride safely and deal with the typical obstacles they might encounter, use their bike as a LE tool, and how do basic inspection and maintenance things to keep it running. We can show them how to adjust their saddle, or how to spin vs mash their gears, but some are just stubborn and like the way theyve always done it. We cant babysit them when they finish school. Our training doesnt JUST teach proper cycling, there are lots of other police things we do as well. We are about creating bike officers who are more effective at doing police work and make it home intact at the end of their shift. We are good at accomplishing that. We cant possibly create perfect models of everything that is good and right about cycling. Most of our students dont come to training because they really want to be serious hardcore cyclists. They come because they HAVE TO so they will be able to wear uniform shorts and get more overtime opportunities. Thats the world we deal with...
Posted on: Thu, 31 Jul 2014 19:12:52 +0000
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