Block Watch Captains’ Network: Bike-patrol briefing
March 29, 2015 at 8:45 pm | In West Seattle News
Along with being among the first to hear that Capt. Pierre Davis is returning to West Seattle as Southwest Precinct commander, the West Seattle Block Watch Captains Network got a briefing this week on the precinct’s new bike patrol.
The guest was Sgt. Jim Britt, who is the sergeant for Frank sector (eastern West Seattle and South Park) and explained he is now the “bike sergeant” too – in addition to his ongoing duties, he is in charge of making sure the officers who are part of the patrol get equipment, training, etc. Because the bicycle patrol isn’t technically a separate unit, the officers will all still answer to their respective sectors’ sergeants.
The precinct will have at least two bicycle officers out each and every day on “second watch,” which is 11 am to 8 pm. Precinct Operations Lt. Ron Smith further clarified that means they have two officers with the flexibility to be deployed on bicycles – they have to have cars, too, as they can’t be taken entirely out of the loop for 911 responses.
Six officers in all will have bikes; Officers Scott Luckie and Andy Bass have had bikes for a while now, and, Sgt. Britt said, they also have been trained to become bicycle mechanics.
They ride a very specific type of 21-speed heavy-framed bike called Volcanic, made for emergency response; Luckie and Bass attended training to be able to keep them up and running. They worked with Cycle U here in West Seattle, too.
Bicycles allow officers to move “relatively unscathed” through summertime crowds on Alki, for example. The bicycle adds a foot of height, he notes. Also, they’ll be a visible and approachable presence in Westwood Village. He demonstrated the “very bright light” that the officers will have on their helmet, not just so they’re visible, but so they can see what’s happening around the area they’re going through. The bicycles also have taillights.
Where else will they be deployed? “The places where cars can’t go,” said Sgt. Britt, in both West Seattle and South Park. In Officers Luckie and Bass’s early efforts, WV, Roxhill Park, the park around Hiawatha Community Center are among the places that already have been patrolled; Lincoln Park also will get special attention from the bicycle patrol. Each of those two officers will still answer to their district sergeant, he explained, because they couldn’t add a sergeant just for the bicycle patrol. In the best of all worlds, said Lt. Smith, they’d have twice as many officers, but that’s just not possible, so they’re putting this together the best way they can.
Officer Jon Kiehn, who’s just returned to the SW Precinct’s Community Police Team, said that this will allow officers to catch more people because it’s faster than running and yet almost silent as they come up on suspects from behind.
They’ll have a handheld version of the in-car computers, too. And they’ll be matched up with the new mobile precinct the SW Precinct is getting, once it arrives (it’s still at the manufacturer on the East Coast) – not as big as the old one, but it’ll have a restroom, communications equipment, etc.
Will the officers have cameras? Sgt. Britt was asked. Reply: If and when the body-worn camera experiment makes it to the Southwest Precinct, they will. (Currently it’s still just in the East Precinct.)
Looking ahead a few months – on Night Out, August 4th, the sergeant said, they’ll have officers on bikes stopping by Night Out parties “all over the place.”