Myrtle Beach Police Department prepares for busy summer season with bike officer classes
By Natasha Laguerre, WMBF, March 6, 2023
Watch the video: https://www.wmbfnews.com/2023/03/06/myrtle-beach-police-department-prepares-busy-summer-season-with-bike-officer-classes/
MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (WMBF) - With summer right around the corner, Myrtle Beach police are preparing for the busy summer season, including training more bike officers.
Myrtle Beach Police Department is partnering with the Law Enforcement Bicycle Association to offer classes to officers interested in getting certified and becoming bike officers.
In this class, there are 29 police officers from different police agencies across the Grand Strand.
For some police officers, it could be challenging to remember how to ride a bike.
“I know it’s uncomfortable for me right now but I know this class will help me set up and be prepared for the summer,” said MBPD officer Christine Flanery “This class is absolutely necessary, I know for me I haven’t ridden a bike since I was a little girl.”
In these classes, officers will learn how to ride a bike, how to keep it in good shape, and what to do in different situations officers might run into while patrolling on a bike.
Although the purpose is to teach, it also serves as a push to get more officers on duty during the summer season in Myrtle Beach.
“We get a huge influx of tourists. It’s very difficult to go around the boulevard,” said Flanery “We really don’t have time to ourselves. You are running to one call to the next. There’s so much going on around you. There’s millions of people it seems like.”
Officers certified on bikes will operate on Ocean Boulevard and downtown Myrtle Beach while there are more tourists in the area.
MPBD Sgt. Tom Vest said he’s happy to see that this year there will be more officers ready for the summer season.
“We really don’t have time to ourselves, you are running to one call to the next,” said Sgt. Vest. “There’s so much going on around you, there are millions of people it seems like.”
MBPD partners with LEBA to host these classes twice a year.
The training takes about a week to complete.