The
Bangor Police Department Mountain Bike Team began covering the downtown area on
mountain bike at the request of the Downtown Merchants Association, who helped
to fund the team and provide the first bikes used. When the team could not cover the street,
officers would cover downtown on foot.
The
team started in May of 1993 with only a few officers and minimal
equipment. The team did not have proper
footwear to ride hours on patrol and did not have designated uniforms.
In
addition to the downtown bike patrol, the Capehart officer road a 10-speed bike
occasionally on residential patrol.
Currently
the mountain bike patrol team is composed of eight riders and a
supervisor. The riders generally work
from 4:00 PM until 1:45 AM. There is a
single rider until 8 PM and a second rider added for the remainder of the
shift. When available an officer may
ride on occasion during the daytime.
The
bike team currently has six Cannondale mountain bikes. Two are 2005 front suspension Police issue
bikes and four are approximately five year old full suspension F900's.
The
bike officers now have riding uniforms and cold weather uniforms with high
visibility reflective striping for night riding.
The
bike team members ride approximately 5-20 miles during a shift depending on
workload and the types of incidents they get involved in.
In
2004 the Police bike team responded to over 140 incidents, summoned or arrested
more than 57 individuals, including 11 OUI's, stopped at least 192 cars and had
numerous contacts with the public on the street. They issued civil summon and
prevented OUI's by stopping operators prior to driving under the influence.
The
bike officers focus their patrol on the downtown area as well as patrolling
areas of high criminal activity or where large crowds may gather.
The bike team generally rides 3 1/2 to 4 months a year, from late May until mid September. Shifts can be hampered by weather and manpower needs and are responsible as a highly proactive unit of the Bangor Police Department patrol division.