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D.C. police hit the streets on new mountain bikes — with sirens

Officers Ashley Keels, left, and Erion Bektashaj track down a gun used in an alleged assault at Florida Avenue and Benning Road NE on the first day riding their new patrol bicycles in the District. (J. Lawler Duggan/For The Washington Post)

By Peter Hermann, The Washington Post, October 20 at 5:40 PM  

The new police mountain bikes even have flashing lights and sirens.

District residents will soon see the sleek white two-wheel patrol vehicles with sturdier-than-normal frames and extra-padded seats cruising down alleys and hopping steps.

Consider it urban off-road riding.

“We can go where others can’t,” boasted Sgt. Michael Wear, who has spent 23 of his 25 years on the D.C. police force on bicycle patrol.

Now, for the first time, he has a bike specifically made for police. Flashing lights and siren, yes, but also high beams and rechargeable batteries that can keep the gadgets going for an entire shift.

D.C. police sent the first 35 of its new Volcanic Vx9-model 10-speeds, which run $2,198 per bike, onto city streets Tuesday, with the officers on a group procession through every one of the seven districts on both sides of the Anacostia. Eventually, the department will have 210 Volcanic bicycles to replace its entire fleet. They are made in Washington state and assembled by a company in the District.

Volcanic was founded about a dozen years ago by Eric Kackley, who owned a small shop in Seattle when a police officer strolled in looking for a bike that could stand up to the rigorous schedule of law enforcement. “He told us his bikes just weren’t holding up,” Kackley said.

So Kackley went to work building a bike for the officer. Two years later, he won the contract for the Seattle Police Department. His company now supplies police agencies throughout the country, including in Los Angeles, Oakland and San Diego.

Police bikes, Kackley said, “really take a pounding, and they need ones that can hold up.”

In the District, bike patrol officers work all shifts, including overnight, and in every part of the city. Officers on bikes are more accessible to residents than those riding in cars and can often respond quicker and sneak up on criminals without fanfare.

“They can creep through alleys looking for other people who creep through alleys,” said D.C. Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier.

Wear, the police sergeant, said that “the way you find burglars is through the alleys.” He also noted that children love to see officers in bikes. “They’ll ride alongside of us,” Wear said. “It’s fun, and it’s fun for us, too.”

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