Garden City Police bicycle patrol back in force
By Michael Maresh, Garden City (KS) Telegram, April 12, 2016
Photo: Garden City Police Department Senior Master Patrol Officer Omar Mora, left, and Master Patrol Officer Emily Relph ride their bicycles on Ninth Street Tuesday. Both are part of the GCPD bicycle patrol unit. Brad Nading/Telegram
As the weather has warmed up and the calendar has turned to spring, the Garden City Police Department has started up its seasonal bicycle patrol once again.
Senior Master Patrol Officer Omar Mora and Master Police Officer Emily Relph are the two full-time bicycle officers for the GCPD.
There are another 11 part-time bicycle officers who ride from time to time, said Capt. Michael Reagle, who is in charge of the Community Response Division that incudes the officers on bicycles.
However, Mora and Relph are the only officers patroling exclusively through the use of bicycles. Reagle pointed out that these officers respond to the same calls as an officer in a patrol car.
The police department has 15 bicycles, most of which are made by Trek. They are 27-speed bicycles, and each is outfitted with police equipment like a patrol car would have, including police radios to stay in contact with dispatchers.
To be allowed to be a Garden City bicycle police officer, a letter of interest must be submitted before a testing process begins.
All bike patrol officers, full- and part-time, are required to go through bicycle training for two days. A bicycle police officer works the same 12-hour shift that other patrol officers work during the day shift — 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Reagle said bicycle officers have the same duties as other patrol officers, and when the department is asked, those officers will provide tips on bicycle safety to youth groups.
Reagle said the bikes, when outfitted with police equipment, cost $1,300 each and are small enough to go places where cars cannot.
They are also small enough to be taken out of sight when necessary. Many individuals are not expecting police officers to be patrolling areas on a bike, which Reagle said is a bonus.
The bike patrol covers the entire city, or wherever they need to go when a call comes in, Reagle said, which is different from patrol car officers who have certain sections or quadrants of the city to drive through.
Mora said he has reached a speed of 31 mph with his police bike, though he conceded the wind might have helped him a little.
He said bicycle officers know the shortcuts around town and can travel from one end of town to the other end in about 10 minutes.
A patrol car with lights and sirens blaring during an emergency can get there quicker, but Relph and Mora sometime show up on scene before a patrol car arrives during non emergencies because they are not constrained by road traffic.
“I like being on a bike,” Mora said, adding they can sneak up on people because they are pretty quiet.
Relph said one of the toughest parts of being a bike officer is getting back in condition after being in a patrol car for most of the year.
She said it sometimes gets cold, which she does not like. Reagle said that when it rains, is extremely windy or cold, Relph and Mora will switch to a patrol vehicle.
Currently, the two full-time bike officers ride about 16 miles per day, which will increase to 25 miles per day during the summer.
When school lets out in May, the school resource officers will patrol on bicycles, Reagle said.
Another advantage both officers mentioned was getting to exercise while doing their job.
Relph added that being on bikes allow them to be more accessible to the public, which she said is appreciated by the community.
“Kids come up to talk to us,” she said.
Reagle said the bike patrol is not anything new for the GCPD, as it began in the early 1990s.
Relph said her job is more enjoyable when she can feel the wind in her face.
“It’s more fun to get out on the bike,” she said. “I would certainly prefer bicycles (over patrol cars).”