Edmonton police use bicycles to patrol but do other cities?
By Stephanie Dubois, MetroNews Canada, July 24, 2014
Photo: Ken Van De Walle / for Metro. The Calgary Police Service unveiled its five-member mountain bike team to patrol south Calgary communities in May.
Using bicycles as a way to patrol city streets is not unique to Edmonton’s police force.
Police detachments across the country have officers night and day, summer and winter riding on two wheels as a way to protect and serve.
In Toronto, police officers use a range of equipment to serve civilians but spokespeople say bikes help their Community Response Unit officers interact with their areas.
“It not only goes to the health and fitness of the officers but it also goes to how much more accessible we can be to the community,” said Cst. Victor Kwong, spokesperson with Toronto Police Service.
Many Canadian police departments have a mountain bike unit as part of their regular patrols, including in Calgary, who have year-round access to bikes for their officers to use.
“Within the city, many of our districts have a full time or part time teams, depending on the community. It’s silent but we’re also really approachable. It’s a really effective way to patrol communities whether it’s downtown or not,” said Sgt. Katrina O’Reilly with Calgary Police Service.
Other police services in addition to Calgary like the Saskatoon Police unit use their bikes in the winter to help patrol the downtown core.