BICYCLE PATROL

A unit designed to provide up-close & personal policing

The St. Thomas Police Service has bicycles outfitted for uniform patrol and plainclothes details.

The Bicycle patrol is only active during the warmer seasons and can perhaps be best described as a fair weather initiative.

The City is not so large that a patrol officer on a bicycle cannot reach any point in the community within a relatively short period of time. St. Thomas is a mix of downtown streets, industrial areas, residential subdivisions and parkland. A bicycle officer can achieve all the goals of a foot patrol officer while covering a much larger area. Additionally, a bicycle officer can respond to calls for service which had been out of reach for the downtown beat officer.

From time to time certain areas of the City may require directive patrol. An example of this might be when a certain area suffers a rash of mischief to car incidents. In a case like this, a plainclothes bicycle officer would be able to patrol areas not easily reached by a patrol car. The officer would be able to see and hear as much as a foot patrol officer, yet they would have a tremendous advantage in a foot chase.