MCT donates trail bikes to EPD
Police chief says officers will be trained for duty
By Matt Winte, the Edwardsville (IL) Intelligencer, June 1, 2015
Photo: Employees from The Cyclery and Fitness Center, Chairman of the MCT Board of Trustees Dan Corbett, MCT Managing Director Jerry Kane, members of the Edwardsville Police Department, Edwardsville Mayor Hal Patton and City Administrator Tim Harr pose for a picture with the two donated bikes on the Nickel Plate Trail.
Previously the Edwardsville Police Department has donated bikes to residents in the city.
Now, Madison County Transit is returning the favor, donating two patrol bikes to the department.
“Certainly with MCT’s 125 miles of trails, the one thing that we wanted to make sure was that the police had an opportunity to use the trails and come into contact with the people who use them and Edwardsville Police were the first to volunteer for this effort,” MCT Managing Director Jerry Kane said.
Additionally, the donation seeks to assist in the development of a police bicycle patrol program in municipalities around the county.
Being the recipients of the donations provides the Edwardsville Police another tool to help serve residents.
“It gives us a much better opportunity to patrol on the bicycle trails within the city of Edwardsville. We also intend on using them for our parades and festivals. They’re a great community outreach tool, kids will come up to our officers anyway but especially when they’re on bicycles. Those are the kind of things that really help our ability to do policing in a user-friendly way,” Edwardsville Police Chief Jay Keeven said.
Keeven said officers will be trained with the goal of having them out on bikes.
“We’re happy to have the bicycles, we’re happy to put to officers on bike patrols. Our goal is to have at least one officer from each of the four patrol squads trained so that on any given day, when we are at full staff, those officers can spend a couple hours or longer riding the trails or riding in the city,” Keeven said.
Just as a police car is equipped with special equipment, the bikes are also special outfitted.
Kane said the bikes are designed by iForce, a U.S. company that manufactures patrol bikes exclusively.
Mountain-bike style, the two bikes are equipped with vehicle grade sirens, speakers to address the public and flashing LED lights.
In order to handle heavy-duty law enforcement use, the bikes have puncture-resistant Kevlar tires, an adjustable air shock and disc brakes.
The Cyclery and Fitness Center assembled the bikes.