Bicycle patrol program returns to Sedona
By RON ELAND, Sedona Red Rock News, FEBRUARY 21ST, 2018
It’s been several years since Sedona police officers could be seen patrolling the streets on bicycles. That will soon be changing.
Last week a trio of officers were in training to receive their certification in order to reinstate the bike patrol program, which in time is expected to grow.
“It’s a good thing to have for police departments in general,” said Sgt. Bill Knuth, who is heading up the patrol. “If you drive by somebody on the street in your patrol car that’s fine, but when you’re on a bike you have more opportunities to have face-to-face interactions with them. It’s beneficial when we’re dealing with the good people of the community as well as the not-so-good individuals.”
SPD’s Cmdr. Ron Bayne agreed and said, “When many people think of Sedona they think of mountain biking, so it only makes sense that we have a bike patrol since the police department is a representation of the community we serve. Plus, I feel this will be a good public relations tool for us within the community.”
The program was on a volunteer basis with most being mountain bike enthusiasts volunteering in their free time. So far there are three officers who will be taking part, but that number may increase to five or six in the near future.
“We’re learning that police biking and trail riding are a lot different,” Bayne said with a grin. “We’ve been working closely with Mike Raney from Over the Edge [bike shop]. Without him this program wouldn’t have gotten off the ground. He’s truly a partner with us on this endeavor.”
While the presence of bike patrol officers will mostly be at special events, Knuth said the plan is to integrate it into the department’s daily patrol.
They hope to make their first event, appropriately enough, the Sedona Mountain Bike Festival, which is set for Friday to Sunday, March 2 to 4. They will also take part in the St. Patrick’s Day Parade and other community events like the Halloween and Christmas festivities in Uptown. But on those days, where the department has full staffing, Knuth said he plans to take a portion of his day and spend it on the bike.
“We’ll all be pulling double duty in that way because we simply don’t have the staffing to have a dedicated bike patrol,” he said. “Uptown will be a huge focus of ours. It’s a well-defined area for bike patrol — as is Tlaquepaque and the Hillside shopping area. In time, I see us patrolling West Sedona — maybe the hotels and businesses — especially at night. Ideally, we’d like a bike on patrol four to five days a week.”
In terms of training, he said bike patrol focuses on slow, precise riding because most of it’s done within crowds or on pedestrian walkways. So, they did a lot of cone work to hone their riding technique. One of the benefits of slow riding is to make more contact with the people around them.
“We’re still police officers out there, even if we’re on a bike,” he said. “We still have to perform the duties we’d perform in a normal setting but with a bike. We’ll even be doing drills at the firing range with our bikes. There’s a lot to the training — more than most people would probably expect.”