Longview police’s bicycle unit helps officers increase community visibility

By Clare McCarthy , Longview News-Journal, July 21, 2017

Longview TX -- Officers Drew Allison and Alex Chorba rode their bicycles across the city Friday, meeting people and establishing connections within the community.

"There are multiple areas that I think benefit from community-based policing," said Allison, one of the 16 patrol officers who make up the Longview Police Department's bicycle unit. "Common interaction, whether it's with business owners, people taking their trash out or people walking on East (U.S.) 80; it's important."

At various times throughout each month, officers in the department's bicycle unit ride out to promote visibility and interact with the public.

"We're on the lookout for suspicious people or criminal activity," Allison said. "But most of the time, we just end up meeting citizens of our community. We try to diversify where we're at and what we're seeing and interact with the different people in our community."

On Friday, Allison and Chorba patrolled U.S. 80 and the Pine Tree area then rode around near Longview Mall and Loop 281.

"The sergeant that's over that unit wants (each of) the bicycle officers to get together about twice a month and go out and ride," said Sgt. Shane McCarter, Longview police spokesman. "It's just one of our visibility aspects. The primary responsibility of the bike unit is interaction with the public."

The officers typically patrol a designated area of the city where police might be experiencing a specific problem or where there is need for a higher officer presence, McCarter said. But the officers also try to promote visibility other than those specific areas.

"The officers in this unit serve a dual role," McCarter said. "The supervisor of the unit likes to assign each officer to at least an eight-hour tour once a month. The rest of the time, they are in their designated spot of (police area representative) or patrol."

The bicycle unit officers have the same enforcement authority as other patrol officers. They can make arrests and traffic stops, and they wear body cameras while patrolling.

"The bicycle unit allows officer to come into contact with more of the community on a one-on-one encounter," McCarter said. "The visibility of these units also acts as a deterrent to criminal activity allowing us to reduce the fear of crime."

The bicycle officers also work special events, such as sporting games and city events, and they often patrol city parks, as well.

Allison said each of the 16 officers in the unit are scheduled to ride at least twice a month and typically ride two at a time.

The bicycle unit allows police the opportunity to interact with the public more personally than they can in a patrol car, Allison said.

"I think when we're in patrol cars, it's easy to seem somewhat aggressive," he said. "And the community perceives it, too. It creates some sort of wall there between us and the community. When you're on a bicycle and you just start riding up and talking to somebody, there's more communication there."

Because the unit is able to move into areas that are not as easily accessible to a car, it can concentrate on areas experiencing a higher crime trend, he said.

"With bikes, we can go on sidewalks, we can go in between cars, we can go up grass hills and down hills where patrol cars can't," Allison said.

He said one of his favorite things about belonging to the unit is reaching out to those in the community and making them feel safe.

"I became a police officer to want to help the community, to want to be part of solving problems versus becoming the problem," Allison said. "So, it's nice to have the opportunity to just get on a bike and get physical exercise and interact with people and help them realize, besides this uniform and badge, I'm the same person as you. I cry, I bleed, I'm someone's son, I'm someone's brother, I have kids, I have a wife, I have issues just like you. Breaking down those walls is important."

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