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The rise, fall, and rebirth of bicycle police
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The St. Paul 1897 Bicycle Patrol. (Credit: Ross Petty)
Earlier this week, I posted this interview with a pair of police officers who I spotted recently patrolling a concourse at the airport in Seattle.
Yesterday, I noticed a related tidbit of news from Dallas. The police department there, according to a Dallas Morning News report, is bringing back its community biking program, which had been a victom of budget cuts.
That development got me interested in the history and status of bicycle policing programs nationwide, and I soon ran accross a gold mine of information in this fascinating research paper from Babson professor Ross Petty. A marketing professor, Petty also teaches a class at Babson called "The Bicycle: Vehicle for Social Change."
Petty's paper, a good read for police officers and cyclists alike, recounts the creation of the first bicycle police patrols in the 1880s in England and Boston, traces the growth and then decline of bicycle policing throughout the early and mid-20th century, and finally highlights a modern resurgence of bicycle police squads that began in the late-1980s. Though the revival has roots in a number of cities, Seattle's police department is generally credited with popularizing the idea and today has one of the nation's most robust bicycle police units.
I highy recommend reading Petty's full paper, but here are some of the more interesting factoids from if you're pressed for time:
*During the 1880s the first bicycle police appeared in England and Boston. Bicycle police squads had appeared in numerous cities by the 1890s.
*In the early days of bicycle policing controlling "scorchers" -- speeding bicyclists -- was an important part of the job.
*By 1920, about one out of every 100 police officers was a bicycle policeman.
*Through the 1930s and 1940s the number of bicycle police saw significant declines.
*However, in the small-scall community biking police squads began to come back -- partly because research showed it allowed officers to patrol more effectively and prevent certain types of crimes more easily than standard car-based patrols.
*In 1987, two Seattle police officers--Paul Grady and Mike Miller--suggested that bicycle police would outperform police cruisers in heavy traffic situations, and the city soon began adding bicycle officers.
*Today, there are some 35,000 bicycle police officers nationwide--approximately one bicycle police officer for every 8,000 people.
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