LAKE STEVENS — The idea is to be more visible, more flexible.
For the first time in recent memory, the Lake Stevens Police Department has officers patrolling on bicycles. Only a few police agencies in Snohomish County have full-time bike units, though some others will roll out bikes for festivals and parades.
The Lake Stevens unit is made up of Sgt. Bob Summers and two officers. By using the bikes, they want to become more approachable, Summers said.
“Community policing is going to be the main focus of the bike patrol,” he said. “That’s getting out there, into the neighborhoods, into the businesses.”
It’s easier on a bike to “roll up to the guy mowing his lawn and say ‘Hey, how are you doing today?’” Summers said.
A secondary component of the program is crimefighting. Bikes are useful for some covert operations, the sergeant said.
Officers in the year-round bike unit will wear baby blue uniforms that are more reflective than the dark blue patrol uniform, Summers said. The bike officers each underwent 36 hours of training organized through the International Police Mountain Bike Association.
They borrowed bikes from Marysville police to get started.
That city’s bike unit has been “very successful and very popular,” Marysville police Lt. Mark Thomas said. In the past, the officers assigned to schools changed to bike patrol in the summer months, he said. They focus on specific areas, such as the downtown business district, Lakewood Crossing or Ebey Waterfront Park, and certain crime trends, such as aggressive panhandling.
Marysville hopes to increase bicycle patrols this summer, Thomas said.
Mill Creek doesn’t have a full-time unit but does have a group of officers who are certified to patrol on bikes, city spokeswoman Kelly Chelin said.
“These officers will work in the downtown area as well as the trail system in Mill Creek and focus on proactive community outreach,” she said. “As we get into the summer months, their activity will increase.”
The Everett police bike unit also works in the downtown core.
Officers in Mountlake Terrace and Mukilteo police, along with Snohomish County sheriff’s deputies, use bikes for special events, such as festivals. A few deputies also are trained for bike patrols, most often in congested areas.
Lake Stevens’ new bikes arrived on June 24. The department went with the Volcanic brand at the recommendation of the Seattle bike unit.
The new bike team wants people to stop them on the street and say hello, Summers said. It’s also encouraged to flag them down for community concerns.
“We’re primarily residential, so it’s really getting on those bikes and getting out and talking to people,” he said. “It’s going to be perfect.”
Rikki King: 425-339-3449; rking@heraldnet.com.
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