Saco police stay visible with bike patrols
By Kate Irish Collins, Saco Sun-Chronical, July 17, 2013
SACO – With its focus on being more visible and making personal connections with the public they serve, the Saco Police Department’s summer bike patrol program is all a part of good community policing, according to Police Chief Bradley Paul.
Now in its fifth year of operation, the bike patrol is also environmentally friendly and allows police officers to go where cruisers can’t, such as on the Eastern Trail, Paul said.
In all, both the police chief and Mayor Mark Johnston, who is also a downtown business owner, call the program a good investment.
“The bike patrol is viewed positively not only by the officers that volunteer for the duty, but by the public they serve,” Paul said. “We love the program.”
And Johnston said, “It’s always nice to have police patrolling on foot or on a bike because it makes them more visible. The bike patrol is absolutely a positive presence in neighborhoods, downtown and Camp Ellis.”
Paul said the bike patrol, which started in 2009, operates between mid-May and mid-September and the officers involved all volunteer for the duty. The officers assigned to the bike patrol “enjoy the improved contact with the public and getting some exercise at the same time,” he added.
This summer the members of the bike patrol are officers Megan Tibbetts, Kevin Gray and Mathew Yeaton. Deputy Police Chief Ray Demers said the department has two mountain bikes and that the bike patrol goes out only when there are enough other officers on duty and the weather is good.
He also said that all three members of the bike patrol have had special training, including tactical maneuvers and how to best dismount a bike during a chase. The bicycles used by the police department were all purchased at a local bicycle dealer and are maintained locally, as well, according to Paul.
He said the bike patrol officers perform a variety of different duties, which can range from providing directions to tourists to performing traffic stops and more.
“The police department utilizes the bike patrol (when available) on all three shifts,” Paul said. “This program has been a very effective tool for the department (and it’s) constantly growing and changing to better meet the needs of our community.”
Officers on bike patrol are generally assigned to the downtown, the city’s shopping centers, Camp Ellis, Kinney Shores and Ferry Beach State Park. And, the bike patrol is not only used for patrolling throughout the community, but it can also be assigned to special details, such as monitoring parade routes.
In addition, the police department also uses the bike patrol to reach out to the city’s schools and other community organizations by assisting with events such as Bike Rodeos, during which the officers often provide safety clinics to help teach better riding techniques, as well as offer advice on what to look out for when riding a bike and ensuring that all bike riders wear the proper safety gear.
What makes the bike patrol a success, Paul said, is that it allows the police officers to be more approachable, which “aids in furthering positive community relations.” In addition, he said, “The bike patrol also provides officers with a great deal of mobility (because the) officers are able to patrol areas that are inaccessible to vehicles.”
Paul added, “The bike patrol has been a success for us, even when you don’t consider the violations they have witnessed or the parking regulations enforced. The success comes from the intangibles that make us a (good) community policing organization. We hear frequently from the public and it is always positive. Neighborhoods love to see the bike patrol cruising through.”
He said the bike patrol program got started five years ago because the police department is “always looking for different ways to connect with people. The bike program gets officers out of their cars, lets them have access to places they may not be able to get to in a cruiser and creates an environment where they have face-to face-contact with citizens. (It’s also) environmentally friendly and fits with the image we wish to project to the public.
And, Paul said, the bike patrol is needed now more than ever.
“We live in a society that seems to move increasingly faster with each passing year. Advances in technology often help the police department more efficiently meet its mission, but (it also) occasionally serves to act as an obstacle to the personal contact that’s so important to both citizens and the police department,” he said.
He also said it’s vital “to us that our community thinks positively when it sees a (police) officer. How can you not feel good when an officer pedals through a neighborhood and stops and speaks with your kids just to make that connection?”
Paul said the bike patrol program is also particularly important as more and more people use the ever-lengthening sections of the Eastern Trail located in Saco, as well as the city’s parks and walking trails.
The bike patrol has been particularly effective in focusing attention on the trail areas and responding to complaints about inappropriate behavior, he said.
“(While) officers will park at parking lots and trailheads and walk the trails, the bicycle patrol does a much more thorough job of providing coverage,” according to Paul.