Police Chief Bridges announces new bicycle patrol
By James Howell Jr. Daily News, May 5, 2016
Greensburg IN — The city of Greensburg will soon have more police officers patrolling parks, walking paths and downtown alleys.
According to Police Chief Brendan Bridges, sometime around June the Greensburg Police Department will begin rolling out bicycle patrolling throughout the city. The new program has been funded 100 percent by grants and donations, according to Bridges.
At the City Council meeting on Monday evening, Bridges explained more about new bicycle patrolling that will happen.
“This will not take any officers off of the street,” Bridges said. “This will actually add officers onto the street. We are going to target areas like the walking paths, parks and downtown alleys.”
He continued by explaining why those areas are being targeted and
“Unfortunately we have had numerous complaints of drug paraphernalia along the walking paths and other issues so for easier access we’ll have that (bikes),” Bridges said. “We hold training days every other Tuesday at the department and we don’t fulfill those hours so the officers selected and that volunteered to be a part of this program will go out in the evening or designated times to hopefully combat some of this issue.”
Officers have already been out and about on the streets becoming acclimated to the bikes and have had numerous citizens stop to ask a question. Bridges expressed that this is a good sign because of the accessibility of officers now.
“It is a lot easier for an officer to stop and talk to somebody on a bike than a patrol car going by at 20 miles per hour,” Bridges said.