Spokane Police train 30 officers for bike unit
By WKHQ, Oct 8, 2020 Updated Oct 9, 2020
Photo: Spokane Police officers, who have been training for the department’s Bike Patrol Team, part of which will work out of the new downtown precinct at Wall and Riverside, wave at kids on the sidewalk as they ride through the intersection at Wall and Main Wednesday, October 7, 2020. The training materials come through the International Police Mountain Bike Association. (Jesse Tinsley/The Spokesman-Review)
SPOKANE, WA- 30 SPD officers are getting trained to be a part of their bike unit
Cops on bikes in Spokane is not something that we haven't seen before, but now there will be more people trained.
One of the trainings they do is battle box.
They push each other and grab each other’s handle bars, and SPD officer Mark Brownell says battle box training helps them prepare in case people get aggressive and pull their bikes during protests.
"We may be protecting something, we may be protecting someone, it can be any of those things," said Brownell, "But that fence line is designed to keep them on one side and keep protesters who may want to hurt us or somebody else or anything that we're protecting on the other side."
They are learned how to stop quickly in case someone jumps out in front of them.
Officer Brownell said that moving around downtown on bikes makes for a quicker response time as well.
"You would think that getting around downtown Spokane that the fastest way would be a car, but the truth is, you have someone who has just a little bit more than basic bike experience and they can move faster on a six block radius on bikes than a car," said Brownell.
Brownell added that for some reason, big guys on small bikes, makes the public more willing to approach them.
"A bicycle is a great ice breaker for people to come up and talk to us," he said.
As the bike cops patrol, they will help keep the community safe but Brownell hopes that the public get to know the officers as well.
"There seems to be a divide, between the public and police but what people forget is that we are the public as well," said Brownell.
SPD will become the regional bike until trainer for other law enforcement agencies in Eastern Washington starting next Spring.
SPD communications director Julie Humphreys, said that the department had been wanting to launch this special unit for a long time now.
She said that in March 2019, they set aside in their budget 38,000 dollars which was spent to on 16 bikes, helmets and clothing.