Franklin, Medway and Millis police take to electric bikes

By Lauren Young, Daily News Staff,  July 4, 2019 
 

Franklin Police Detective Jon Bussey speeds by at almost 30 mph during a demonstration of the department's new electric-powered bicycles Wednesday. Inside the wheel is a small battery-powered motor. [Daily News and Wicked Local Staff Photo/Ken McGagh]▲The Franklin Police Department's new bicycles become electric with the turn of a switch on the left handlebar. [Daily News and Wicked Local Staff Photo/Ken McGagh]▲

The electric bikes, or e-bikes, can travel at speeds of up to 26 mph. Officers from local departments recently attended the state's first training course.

FRANKLIN – Whipping around a series of orange cones in the Franklin Police Department parking lot, Sgt. Jason Reilly sped up inches away from two cones placed side by side to create a barrier before gripping his front and rear brakes.

A radar gun clocked the Franklin police sergeant's speed at 26 mph.

"That's the fastest we've had right there – nice job, Sarge!" said Sgt. Jeff Watson of the Medway police, standing beside one of the $3,600 Trek electric bikes used by Reilly. They are brand-new to the Medway, Franklin and Millis police departments.

"This style of bike is the ultimate police bike," said Watson, a mountain bike instructor for the past 24 years and owner of Police Mountain Bike Training New England.

"There's no other company right now (in the state) training with electric bikes," said Watson. When he noticed electric bikes, also called e-bikes, were gaining in popularity, he contacted someone in California to help him develop his own three-day curriculum for the Massachusetts Police Training Committee.

Now, both Franklin and Medway police each have two of the 50-pound Police Edition patrol e-bikes, bought from Milford Bicycle. The bikes are equipped with a Bosch motor in the front, center or back and can reach up to 28 mph with pedal assist, said Watson.

The Millis Police Department also has one of the bikes and shares the training sessions – taught by Watson and his college-aged son Tim, with other departments.

"They're unbelievable - they're bikes with a boost." said Watson, who used one of the bikes for the first time while patrolling a Grateful Dead concert in Foxborough recently. He was approached by several concert-goers, many amazed that his bike was electric.

The timed obstacle course in he Franklin Police Department parking lot on a recent humid Wednesday afternoon was part of day-long modification training, teaching officers how to be efficient, said Watson. Orange cones lined up to resemble tight corners and obstacles on the road, including braking fast to avoid hitting a car.

"On a normal bicycle, when we go to a call and have to ride for two or three minutes, we're exhausted," he said. "But today, everything has been about controlling the bike and using less energy to get to the call."

The bikes will also increase their coverage area, said Watson, with Franklin covering about 27 square miles, Millis about 19 square miles and Medway about 11.5 square miles.

"They're fantastic for community policing and outreach," he said, and having police on bikes makes them more approachable.

"As soon as (police) evolved to using cars, we enclosed ourselves a bit from the public," he said. "Every time we're on the bicycle, we have people coming up to us asking questions."

At least in Medway, Watson said he envisions more officers riding around Choate Park after it recently underwent renovations, including to its walking paths.

Sgt. Brian Johnson of Franklin Police said officers regularly bike around downtown and through parks.

Another area police department, Millville in Worcester County, introduced e-bikes earlier this summer.

Franklin will debut its e-bikes on Saturday during a fireworks display while Medway will debut theirs on Friday during the 215th Army Band concert at Choate Park.

---