Topeka police disband bike unit but continue to use bikes
By Tim Hrenchir, The Capital-Journal, March 20, 2018
Topeka Police Chief Bill Cochran may be disbanding the department’s four-person bicycle unit, but he is also significantly increasing the number of officers given a chance to ride bikes on duty, he said Tuesday.
The department has 15 bicycles and 40 officers certified to ride them, Cochran noted while making a presentation to the Topeka City Council about a departmental restructuring he is carrying out.
Under the new arrangement, possibly 25 to 30 officers will ride bikes each year as part of their duties or while receiving special assignments, such as parades, Cochran said.
He recalled that he had said soon after taking office late last year that he intended to improve the department’s community engagement.
Cochran described various steps he is taking aimed at increasing community engagement and transparency.
Those include arranging for the police chief to receive input from a community-driven citizen’s advisory council to replace the chief’s advisory board, and forming a community response unit, with the latter move taking effect April 7.
Officers in the response unit will be assigned on a daily basis to address individual needs as they arise, Cochran said. They might deal one day with traffic issues on S.W. Wanamaker Road and the next with burglary concerns in southeast Topeka’s Hi-Crest neighborhood, he said.
The department is also lengthening the shifts its patrol officers work from eight hours to 10, meaning residents should see more patrol cars on the streets, Cochran said.
Councilman Mike Padilla, a retired Topeka police administrator, said the restructuring is “kind of a shift from the traditional ways, but I think that’s necessary.”
Councilwoman Karen Hiller commented, “It’s so much change, it’s a little mind-boggling to me.”
Hiller said her constituents particularly enjoyed seeing the bicycle officers patrolling.
Cochran acknowledged that his decision to do away with the bike unit, which most recently consisted of three officers and one sergeant, “made some people nervous.”
The city’s governing body, consisting of the nine council members and Mayor Michelle De La Isla, also:
• Voted 10-0 to issue a conditional use permit that will enable the Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library to construct a parking lot, for use primarily by employees, at the southwest corner of S.W. 10th and Garfield Avenue.
• Voted 9-0, with De La Isla not having a vote, to approve the appointment of Cynthia Hopp to the Topeka Human Relations Commission.
• Continued a discussion it began last week about city manager Brent Trout’s proposed 2019-21 Capital Improvement Budget and 2019-28 Capital Improvement Plan, which it is expected to consider approving April 3.
• Discussed but took no action regarding establishing the city’s budget priorities for 2019.
• Heard a report about Shawnee County’s performance in health rankings recently released by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute.
• Heard multiple council members say they had seen an increased presence in downtown Topeka since Friday’s opening of The Pennant, a restaurant at 915 S. Kansas Ave.
• Met behind closed doors in executive session to discuss attorney-client-privileged matters regarding economic development.