IPMBA News

Ascension Parish Sheriff’s Office new bike patrols having an impact in fight against crime

BY ELLYN COUVILLION, The Baton Rouge Advocate, August 18, 2018 |

Ascension Parish Sheriff's Office Deputies Sam Schexnayder, left, and Tyrus Cobb demonstrate how they have been trained to use their bikes in the newly created parish-wide bike patrol unit, Wednesday, Aug. 15, 2018, at the Ascension Parish Sheriff's Office in Gonzales, La.

Advocate staff photo by HILARY SCHEINUK

A group of Ascension Parish sheriff's deputies have put aside the keys to their squad cars to take to a different set of wheels in the fight against crime. 

Since the Sheriff's Office launched a new bicycle patrol three months ago, deputies on bikes have made several drug-related arrests, stopped a couple of fights that were brewing and been a new presence at large outdoor public events.

The Sheriff's Office is also looking at the bike patrol as a new tool in the fight against car burglaries, a crime that's on the uptick in the fast-growing parish.

The bikes have the advantage of being quiet, with the ability to navigate small places and make quick turns. 

"If you plan how you're going to approach the subject, you can definitely have the element of surprise," said Deputy Sam Schexnayder, part of the eight-member Ascension Sheriff's Office bike patrol.

Schexnayder and his fellow officer, Deputy Tyrus Cobb, brought the idea for the patrol to Chief Deputy Bobby Webre earlier this year. 

"There's been no downside," Webre said of the new bike patrol unit.

"They have all the equipment they'd have (in a patrol unit), except for the laptop," he said of the officers on bikes. "They are well prepared." 

A bike patrol is attractive cost-wise, as well, Webre said. 

The mountain bikes cost about $1,100, after being outfitted with special racks, compared to the cost of approximately $30,000 for a fully outfitted police car, he said. 

Plus, deputies on bike patrol have a chance for a new kind of community interaction, Webre said. 

Children sometimes follow for a little bit on their own bikes when officers are riding on routine patrols of neighborhoods, Cobb and Schexnayder said. Those encounters present opportunities  for officers to also stop and chat with residents.

The initiative for the Ascension bike patrol was an offshoot of Cobb's annual drill with the Louisiana National Guard this spring. There, Cobb learned from a fellow guardsman, also a deputy elsewhere in the state, about the benefits of bike patrol. Specifically, he learned  how valuable the "stealth mode" aspect of bike patrols could be in stopping car burglaries.

Webre said that the new initiative in Ascension Parish, brought by deputies within the department, was met enthusiastically by other officers.

"We had to do no recruiting," Webre said.

The bike patrol is not a fulltime role for officers, who work it as one of their regular shifts at different times.

Seven of the officers have received certification with the International Police Mountain Bike Association through training with the Baton Rouge Police Department, with the eighth deputy to be certified in the near future, Webre said.

"It's a real good tool. Bikes can ride where cars can't," said Sgt. Kyle Callihan, a certification instructor with the Baton Rouge Police Department. 

"To me, it's like a modern-day posse," Webre said of bike patrols. "And you don't have to feed the bikes." 

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