Bike Cops
 

I drove past a couple of bicycle cops this weekend. They were riding next to each other taking up a whole lane with a couple of cars crawling slowly behind them. They appeared to be taking their sweet time too. Don't know why, but when I saw that I thought aaaaaaaw heeeeell yeeeeah lol Waved at them like mad too. The looked at me funny. :beer:

They do that all the time on Broadway here in Nashville.

One of the disappointments in life I've had to learn to accept is that bike cops (here in Philadelphia, anyway) are not bicyclists, have no interest in cycling, and do not see their role as having anything to do with cycling. Bikes, to them, are just a faster way to "walk" their beats.

They pay absolutely no attention to traffic laws (less even than drivers of squad cars do) and they pay no attention to stupid/illegal/dangerous activity by cyclists unless there's a crime being committed or they actually collide with somone.

They ignore traffic signals, they ride on congested sidewalks, they go the wrong way on one-way streets. It's just as well there aren't too many of them.

Grr.

RichC

That, and they all get nice Klein HT's besides :D

hmmmmm..come to think of it, that was the first time I'd seen any on the street. I've only ever seen them in sort of 'crowded' areas like a festival or Overton Square here in Memphis. These guys appeared to be following the rules even! Maybe taking 'right of way' a little too much, but there was another lane on this slow uncrowded street for cars to pass. It was as if they were saying 'IN YOUR FACE I BELONG HERE TOO! Complain and I'll arrest ya!' OH OH!! Maybe if i wear a bright yellow shirt and black shorts like theirs, cars will keep quiet when I ride!! Oh, my bored-at-work little mind is turning...

That's been my experience, too. I'll wave and they'll usually ignore me completely.

I have talked to some before that consider it more healthy or a good way to get around, but I think most of them would rather be inside a car.

Something else I just realized. Our public safety department on campus has two or three guys who patrol on bikes, but they make them wear the same uncomfortable looking uniforms and shoes. Seems they could be much more effective if they had cycling specific uniform clothing (but not lycra, oh no, not for these big guys). For crying out loud, it was 90 degrees the other day with probably 70% humidity and they are wearing midnight blue uniforms.

What happened to bikecop a forum member? http://www.bikeforums.net/member.php...fo&userid=2890 It would be interesting to hear what he has to say on this.

We have bike cops in Germantown also, but I haven't seen them in a while. They never seemed to be doing anything.

We have bike cops in Trollsville. I just love a man in uniform. :love: :love: :love:

The Trollsville Bicycle Club had a fund raiser and helped to buy the police a bicycle.

Every once in a while, I stop at the LBS and buy some tubes. Then I drop by the station and donate them to the bicycle officers. I think it helps to build good will.

And maybe, it will help me to not get tickets for riding nekkid! :D

bikecop is probably busy nowadays, his last post was last July of 2002,
I don't have problems with police officer on Bikes, out here T.O. thy look friendly and very respectful

It's been my experience that most people who want to be cops have no business being one. And once they get behind that badge, they're above the law. I gaurantee you that if you did half the stuff on your bike that they do on theirs, they'd harass you over it. I'd have more respect for law enforcement if they had more respect and discernment for their own "authority."

Sounds like you've had some bad experiences with the police.

Personally, I think that the presence of bicycle officers is good for the cycling community in general. They demonstrate one more "legitimate" use of bicycles and may make people think twice about harrassing cyclists.

http://mitglied.lycos.de/rick1974/hp...fic%20Blue.jpg

bike cops... :) you guys remember this show...pacific blue...

You kill me sometimes, Troll!!!! :D

We have a number of bike cops: Sac PD and the CHP officers who patrol around Capitol Park. For the most part they seem to be friendly and engaged with the people on their beat. Might be that they have more patience because they're used to the daily demonstrations, rallies, and protests.

One thing I've noticed is that they ride really heavy FS mountain bikes with big panniers and knobby tires. They look like they're ready for a backcountry tour rather than just cruising the pathways of Capitol Park. Must be the same mindset that leads them to buy those gigantic Crown Victorias....

Bike cops here on the peninsula ride Trek Police bikes. I'm not sure how heavy they are, but looking at the pictures on the Trek website, they look like either 6000 or 4000 series versions. In any case, they're HT and they look really sweet coz they got the black matte finish, and not the glossy paint that retail Trek bikes have.

Would be nice if there were more cops on the bicycles, because MOST of them are driving HUGE gas guzzlers - crown victorias, and they never shut the engine off, because WE (tax payers) pay the bill.
Of course they need to have a big, heavy strong car, but if some of them cared for the inveronment, they could have behave a little differently.

Two days ago, saw how 3 police cars we standing around a bicyclist, BMX style, that was riding on campus sidewalks, which is prohibited by the signs...

They locked his hands in hand cuffs, arrested him and drove away in the back of police car. The bikes were carried away by some security truck.
I don't think this is all that necessary...

Bike cups are good, they don't pollute as much... :)

If I would be a cop in the future, I think I'll prefer being a cop on a hardtail bike. I guess there's more fun in the job that way, being able to mix around with the residents, having a few words with them and stuff. Though I do see bikes at the police stations, I don't see any of the cops here riding them. They are usually patroling in their cars, which I guess is best for them since they now do have computers in the patrol cars that should have a gps system that they can use to track down those people in probation and rush to scene of crimes asap. Hopefully they will have such systems installed on the bike, and if I can't find a job, I'll be a cop on bike!

I've noticed that, too. I think for them a bicycle is just a practicality that they can use in congested inner-city areas to get around faster. We've had cops on bikes for a few years around here, but it doesn't appear to have changed the situation for cyclists one bit.

The bike shop I often frequent has some Police-configured ho-hum hardtails on display since they sell to the local law enforcement folks. I've also seen them configure Fisher Sugar-1s for police duty... decked out with nice light kits and everything. Now those were pretty sweet.

"Its got cop shocks, cop tyres, cop brakes, cop engine..."

You think they might have been arresting him for something else than riding on the sidewalk? Maybe he just rapped a girl, or robbed a bank, or murdered someone. Maybe, just maybe, the cops WERE DOING THEIR JOBS! We (well, they; but I'll be able to use we in 4 to 5 years) do a stress filled, hard working job, where they (we) get shot at, stabbed, yelled at, stuff thrown at us, to serve and protect our cities or towns, and most people see us as a nuisance. I'm sorry to go off like this, but after that post I couldn't hold it in.

Back to the bike cop subject. Being a Sgt-Cadet at my city's police station I know almost every officer by their first name. We do have a bike patrol, but since we got the horses (cops on horses is a stupid idea) the bikes aren't used a ton. Whenever someone does a bike patrol shift, I'm usually out there with them, most say I can give them better training on the bike than the classes they have to take to be a bike cop did. So now I've got 3 or 4 cops doing urban assault with me. And let me tell you, the best way to get away with doing urban is doing it with a cop.

Funny story, there is this park where there is some awesome stuff to fool around on, but this old guy chases us away within 10 mins. So I'm out with one of the officers and he asked about how he can jump off stairs better, "I've got the perfect place to practice," I say, take him to the park. I hit a set a of stairs and soon enough out comes the old guy, "I thought I told you the next time I see you I would call the cops!" The officer turned around, "...Exuse me..." I almost fell over laughing, the guys mouth dropped so low you could have drove a MACK truck thought it. I never had an issue with him again.

-Middi-zon

Hey Caloso, Sac county has Sheriff's officers patroling on bikes on the American River Bike trail. I've seen them on their FS Mountain bikes down there a couple of times. I don't think any real cyclist would have much of a problem out running them.

May be is a good phrase. But when I post, I make sure this is not a maybe.
Many times I witnessed campus patrol chasing "12 year old kids" for riding on campus territory".

People who work in law inforcment agencies, feel some power over the rest of the people, and this feel often lets them behave themselves in unappropriate way, using as excuse the fact that they risk a life other times. It's their choice, they chose to become cops, no one pushed them. This means that they HAVE TO BE POLITE and respectful to EVERYBODY. As EVERYBODY contributes to them receivng their paychecks...

How old are you?