 "Photo: Jeffrey McWhorter")
With sky-high fuel prices and the need for accessibility and connectivity with the public, local police departments are finding new benefits of bicycle patrols.
The Austin Police Department spent $3,161,093 on fuel in 2007 and has already spent $2,874,468 this year. Austin police and UTPD have about 40 and 15 bicycle patrol officers, respectively. Some officers in both departments rotate between riding a bicycle and driving a patrol car, said UTPD Officer Scott Rhoads.
"When there's enough of us that we can have one, maybe two officers go on bike instead of driving the vehicles. It saves us from having to fill the cars up every day and running the cars all day while people are writing reports in their vehicles and whatnot," Rhoads said. "It definitely goes along with the University's 'think green' concept."
Lt. Marcelino Gonzales manages the Austin Police Department district representatives who ride bikes and said the department deploys about 40 bicycle patrol officers to the streets each day. Bicycle patrol officers are often able to respond to calls faster than car patrol officers because of traffic and the number of traffic lights in the downtown area where they patrol, he said.
"We're able to patrol more areas with bikes, as opposed to vehicles," Gonzales said, adding that officers on bikes are able to patrol alleyways. "With getting from one location, point A to point B, our accessibility is a lot better with bikes in the downtown area."
UTPD Officer William Pieper said there are about 15 bike patrol officers on campus who work on a rotating basis, so officers are not riding every day. Bike patrol officers can be more approachable for students with questions, he said.
"With a bike, people feel more comfortable coming up and talking to an officer, as opposed to one driving a big ol' mean squad car," Pieper said.
Rhoads said bicycle patrols have other added benefits, including fitness and stealth.
"We can usually have a pretty silent approach on specific calls - for instance, if there's a theft or burglary in progress," Rhoads said. "We can sneak up on people rather easily."
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