Shippensburg Police Department

Cops on bikes are back on patrol

Bicycle units are maneuverable and stealthy
New-chronicle
By DALE HEBERLIG
Managing Editor

Bicycle patrols by Shippensburg borough police are back.

Police Chief Fred Scott, not a big fan of the bike units, says the performance of officers on two-wheelers is changing his opinion.

He says he now has three officers certified for bike patrol – certification required by state regulations – and he recently tapped a fund made possible by community contributions to add a pair of Trek bikes to the department’s fleet.

Scott says his officers wanted to revive the bicycle patrol unit that was tried briefly a few years ago.

“We tried it once, but didn’t have the bike-certified manpower to keep it going,” Scott says. “The guys approached me last year, saying they wanted to restart it.”

Shippensburg officers manned bike patrols for about a week last fall before the weather turned cold, Scott says, and are ready to resume now with warmer weather on the horizon.

“We had an old bike, but donations have provided the money for two more new ones,” Scott says. “I haven’t been a big fan of bike patrols in the past. I personally didn’t think there were a lot of advantages.”

Last fall’s trial run gave him food for thought.

“There was at least one case where the guys on the bikes got to the scene faster than the patrol car,” Scott says. “They can go through alleys and across parking lots.”

Scott says the bicycles are especially useful after dark because of the stealth and maneuverability.

“At night they get places where patrol cars can’t get and they get there without being seen,” Scott says. “And, we’ve had officers on bicycles pull cars over.”

Officer Brad Goyt says the visibility of bike patrols works both ways,

“When we don’t want to be seen, we won’t,” Goyt says, “but the bicycles make us more accessible to the public and more visible when we want to be seen.”

Goyt says the certification training for bicycle patrols is interesting and valuable, addressing subjects like best braking techniques, incline and downhill riding tips, bike maintenance instruction, a primer of rights of the road and even instruction on the best way to fall in the event of a crash and techniques on how to make a suspect takedown from a bicycle.

Scott says bike patrols will be deployed mostly for weekend work, but the schedule is flexible. He says certified bicycle cops are free to do duty any time when there is a second patrol unit in action – that’s most of the time, Scott says.

Full-time officers Goyt and Thomas Young are certified for bike patrol, along with part-time officer Charles Pyatt.

Expect Shippensburg’s two-wheeled patrols to be on the street by the end of March.