Marblehead Police, Fire Departments Receive Two-Wheel Upgrade
By BROOKLYN LOWERY, The Patch, May 5, 2015
The Marblehead police and fire departments now have a couple of new tools in their tooboxes: electronic bicycles.
Four electronic bicycles were donated by Marblehead native Adam Rand of Polaris® eBikes, according to a post on the Marblehead Police Department’s Facebook page. The Marblehead police and fire departments each received two bikes.
According to the Polaris eBikes Facebook page, the bikes offer riders “a boost as you pedal” or “power without pedaling.”
“These bikes allow us to assign an officer on the bike more often,” explained Police Chief Robert Picariello, explaining that he currently has three officers who work on the bicycle patrol unit as shift strength on any given day allows.
Marblehead’s bicycle patrol unit is on the streets from May 1 through mid-October, according to the department’s Facebook page, and the unit is generally used for parking control in the business and historic districts as well as in areas of town, such as old railroad right-of-ways, conservation lands, parks, playgrounds and beaches, that are inaccessible to patrol cars.
The eBike’s charge will last throughout an eight-hour shift, according to the Facebook post, and the bike has the capability to recharge while in use. It can travel at speeds of up to 20 mph.
“As you might imagine, assigning an officer to a traditional pedal bike limits their availability to the distance they can pedal in a fairly short response time,” Picariello said. “These bike certainly expand the distance that an officer can respond in that same amount of time, and still be useful and not out of breath when they get there.”
For its part, the fire department plans to use its two bikes primarily to provide EMS services in situations where a traditional fire truck or ambulance cannot travel.
Fire Chief Jason Gilliland said he’s always happy to add something to help his department improve “effectiveness and efficiency.”
Gilliland said the bikes will be outfitted with bags to carry EMS equipment and the cyclists still need to be trained in using the technology, but he hopes they will be ready to go in time for Marblehead’s Fourth of July celebration, exactly the kind of environment where Gilliland said the bikes will come in handy.