Well, ideally, I want a cop that can ride a bike faster than 12mph - regardless of how they get there.

I've seen parks and rec uniformed bike patrol once on the Alum Creek Trail.

Then they should forget about these - I routinely ride 22-24mph with no effort. I could easily outpace these things.

I think they could be useful if the law enforcement departments carefully consider the context of where and when.

Of course, the user would be sure to have the needed training and experience -- you will not immediately use them well, especially under adrenaline-pumping situations like an officer could be in. See this link to someone falling off a T3 Motion, probably being overconfident of how easy it is to drive them: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjldrPLX7Pg

On a mountain bike? That's great if you can. Not sure how fast and for how long at sustained speeds I can ride my department issued bike. I carry in excess of 35-45 pounds of gear on my person, bullet-proof vest (not proof really, more like resistant to some bullets) duty belt and misc other gear. The bike is also loaded down with various ticket books, tools, medicine kit, foul weather gear, all stuffed into my rack bag, so it's not that easy. I think that these alternate means of transportation that other departments use serve a purpose, otherwise they would not buy them. I personally can use a squad car, segway, PAPV (a 4 wheel motorized motorcycle) or a bicycle. I choose to ride my Trek and don't regret it, although maybe a little in winter :D

That would be nice, unfortunately I don't think that's a prerequisite on most PD applications.

I don't know why they ride their horses on that path. They leave behind A LOT of stuff. For those of you who want to know what the west side MUP in NYC looks like (or how busy it is), check out a video I made last weekend. Fast forward to 2:30 to see the Brooklyn Bridge MUP & 2:35 to see the west side MUP.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-WPZOFbESo

Ideally, yes....but in reality, that may be asking too much.

Here are a few pics of the MS bike ride I did 2 weeks ago.
http://picasaweb.google.com/Cadd918/...57926334295490
http://picasaweb.google.com/Cadd918/...57975353167378
http://picasaweb.google.com/Cadd918/...58021074374642

Opps, the pics didn't work, here are the links
http://picasaweb.google.com/Cadd918/...57926334295490
http://picasaweb.google.com/Cadd918/...57975353167378
http://picasaweb.google.com/Cadd918/...58021074374642

And here's a short video of the officers moving along at a blazing speed of....I don't know.....maybe 6.5mph?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZ80FdoM7Tk

The cops on Hollywood blvd ride those things around... on sidewalks crowded with tourists. If they wanted to go fast, they couldn't without risking running over someone. Waste of tax money IMO, they'd be faster on foot... like uncle rico.. Personally, I think they just wanted them to tower over the regular people and intimidate.

Here's a pic (not mine)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/discart...7607344685010/

We had bicycle cops in the town I work in for a few years, and they did great job maneuvering around the gridlocked cars and the crowded down town area. They generated a lot of good will too until the funding for that project dried up.

I'd take that one.

Perhaps your cyclometer needs fine tuning. :roflmao2:

Average speed of the TdF winner a few years ago was 27mph. Local Cat III crits often average 24mph.

Unless you're some racer, here's no way you can ride 24mph with little or no effort. Even as a racer, I'd think riding 24mph for an hour long is pretty damn demanding.

Increasingly, the MUPs here are nothing of the sort.

I've seen trucks on the MUP at least two or three times here. Once was while I was turning off the road into the path, and I had to swerve into the grass to avoid running into a pickup. Each time I see them, I think of calling the police, even though I never do.

wow clipless. I wonder how the foot pursuit goes? Isn't it hard to run on those shoes? Especially on ice! Yikes.

If I was going to be a cop I'de want to be one on a bike! That is way cool.

That would be cool if they had the shotgun attached to their frame like a pump!

Yup I've seen them up close and in person. They have a type of hybrid bike shoe with the clipless attachment deep inside the soles. When they're walking you can't even tell they're wearing bike shoes (no click, click, click).

Kind of like this: http://a1608.g.akamai.net/7/1608/136...s/20050606.jpg

The police pretty regularly drive cars and suv's down our MUP's... count yourself lucky. ;)

i was chased down by 4 cops on the large cruiser type moto's on the local mutt. Seems the Sargent sent em after me after I cut through there parking lot where they were preparing to do moto drills (they had yet to start) pretty funny after they chased me down i asked for a draft back to the boss as he wanted to chew my ass for a bit. yadda yadda for your own safety...ya like sending cops screaming down a mutt at 35mph wasnt dangerous haha.

they didnt like the draft idea btw - or the fact that I was pretty casual about the whole thing. He checked my license and accused me of having a out of date address as I was about 30 miles south...nope officer I am on my way to work and yes I have ridden 30miles to get there ;)

glad i got off with a warning after he belittled me for 10min :D

Why can't they have police Vespas? That would rock!

All day, every day? I seriously doubt it.

Get some cops that can ride bikes ... geez.

The city cops actually patrol downtown here on these. Saw one yesterday hasseling some apparently homeless folks down by the bus station. later same officer giving parking tickets... wonder if he would give chase if i was speeding?

Not a mountain bike, a recumbent with Q-Rings. Granted, I drop to half that on hills (or less on really steep ones), but if I were a criminal being chased, I'd think I could muster a bit more energy. This is on my daily commuter with a weight of about 58 lbs including my extra clothes, extra light batteries, etc, plus my 210 lbs. I was certainly not that fast when I started riding it, but my thighs have added a couple of inches since then. Not being able to stand on the pedals on hills makes for dramatic muscle bulking...

As a bike cop, my opinion is that nothing will replace bikes. Those T-3's look really goofy, and I don't think I'd wanna ride one, but I see them being good for special events held outdoors and such. Nothing beats the efficiency of a bike though. While we do have plenty of weight on us, you get used to it and don't really notice it. Even though we're on bikes all day, we're really not going fast most of the time, if we're just patrolling we have no destination, it's easier to just slow down and pay attention to what's going on. Since we don't go fast during regular patrol, there's plenty of energy left to go all out chasing people. Nobody has ever gotten away from me on foot, and if a car runs, there's still patrol cars around to pickup the chase. Having all that weight on all the time just makes you a stronger rider to compensate, really, how many other people get to train for 8 or 9 hours a day all week. You just can't replace a bike with a car, and you can't replace a car with a bike, or a T-3.

The point is, police bikes are a great tool in the right context, and I'm sure the T-3's would be too, but they can't replace bikes, and I don't think any departments are trying to replace bikes with them, it's a supplement. That being said they do look goofy and I'll keep my bike thank you very much.

The T3 website clearly states that the top speed is 12mph unless it's special ordered - possibly meaning a large portion of these things can't top 12mph.

As for bike speed, I don't see why you'd have to hammer it at 25mph just patrolling. I can average 25mph for a half mile or so on flat ground on a 45lb huffy mtb, and I'm not a very strong person. I don't see why such a low speed chase would last any longer than that.