Richlands Police Department gets new police bicycles

By ADMIN 0 Comments

They hope the bikes will help with off-road patrols and community relations.

By Clayton McChesney, WVVA, January 24, 2024

Watch the video: https://www.wvva.com/2024/01/24/richlands-police-department-gets-new-police-bicycles/

RICHLANDS, Va. (WVVA) -The Richlands Police Department is adding three new vehicles to their fleet, but they are trading in some horsepower for pedal power that’s low-tech and eliminates greenhouse gases. The vehicles are bikes, not motorcycles, but actual bicycles. The hope is that these bicycles will make it easier to patrol areas where a traditional police cruiser isn’t practical, like walking trails, but the main goal is improving community relations by making officers more approachable.

“...It’s often times hard for a person to talk to a police officer if they’re in a patrol vehicle and sometimes it can be intimidating, so we’re always trying to find ways that we can be better at community policing, how can we better communicate with our public, be a part of it in ways that, you know, are always not adversarial or confrontational. It’s just a good way to meet the public at certain events,” says Chief Ron Holt.

The bikes were purchased thanks to grant funding from the Department of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS). They aren’t planning to have designated bike officers, but the cops on bikes will be provide a supplemental patrol whenever they are needed. One of the potential candidates for these patrols says he is looking forward to the new transportation option and expects it to have a positive traction in the community.

“I think it’s a great program that we want to bring to the community. It’s going to give us an opportunity to interact more with citizens out here in the warmer months. You know, a lot of times our citizens see us riding around in our cruisers twelve hours at a time, and we don’t really get that face-to-face interaction... Unless it’s on a call or traffic stop...” says Noah Brown, a Patrolman for the Department.

The Richlands Police Department haven’t officially debuted the new police bikes on the roads yet, but they hope that the upcoming events and warmer weather will make these new additions fleet additions a regular sight in the community.

Holt says they’ve already received positive feedback on the new bikes from their post on Facebook. He also hopes to have an official debut of the bicycles in a bike-riding event.

IPMBA News