Bike Cop Conference Rolls in to Ogden
Visiting officers nab ill-timed street thief
Sun, May 5, 2002
By JOEY HAWS
Standard-Examiner staff
OGDEN -- Stealing is never a good idea, but when there are dozens of extra
police on the streets for an international law enforcement conference, it's
an even worse idea.
Saturday around 1:30 p.m. a man attempted to steal a $750 tray of jewelry
from a street vendor along 25th Street. The vendor yelled for help.
"We heard someone screaming "Thief, thief, stop him!" and looked up, and
the owner was running about 30-yards behind the guy," said officer Frank
Zdankiewicz, a resident of Woodhaven, Mich.
Several out-of-town officers were washing their bikes when they heard the
vendor's cries, saw the thief and sprang into action.
Officer Louann Hamblin, from the VanBuren Township near Ann Arbor, Mich.,
outran two of her colleagues, caught up to the suspect and knocked him into
a brick wall. She slapped some cuffs on the suspect and waited until Ogden
officers stepped in. The suspect was booked into the Weber County Jail on
suspicion of theft.
Hamblin and Zdankiewicz are two of approximately 250 officers from across
the country, plus a few officers from Switzerland and Great Britain, who
are attending the 12th annual Police on Bikes Convention of the Baltimore-based
International Police Mountain Bike Association scheduled to officially begin
Thursday.
In the meantime, dozens of officers are already in town and will be participating
in a myriad of hands-on training courses that will be very visible to the
public in the downtown Ogden area.
"There will be fully-uniformed bike cops racing around all over town," Ogden
community police officer Eric Young said.
The conference, which is here because of a bid submitted a few years ago
by Ogden police officials, will consist of more than 40 in-class workshops
taught by some of the top bike patrol experts in the nation. Officers can
also choose between five training courses and 18 on-bike training classes.
Maureen Becker, executive director of the association, said though Ogden
is one of the smaller areas the conference has been in, the location is a
perfect training site for officers to fine-tune their biking skills because
of the large selection of off-road trails in the mountains.
"Off-road riding sharpens and hones your street riding skills, so many of
the officers have been taking advantage of the mountain trails," Becker said.
One of the premiere courses began Saturday covering the intricacies of a
rapid response bike team. This class was taught by seven original and current
members of the Los Angeles Police Department Central Division Bicycle Rapid
Response Team.
This 36-person team was first introduced as a pilot project during the Democratic
National Convention in August of 2000 and proved to be a huge asset for crowd
control and escort during the convention that saw scores of political protesters.
Ogden Police Department"s bike patrol program isn"t nearly as extensive as
Los Angeles" unit, but it is still perfect for the unique needs of the
department.
"Our bike officers have been invaluable in helping during narcotics cases,"
Ogden police Lt. Dan Greenhalgh said. "The bikes are smaller and very quiet
and can go places people don"t expect. So there is an element of surprise
with using a bike patrol."
Currently the Ogden Police Department has eight community police officers
assigned to bike patrol in the eight geographical areas of the city. Greenhalgh
said that though there are only a few officers who are currently assigned
to community policing bike patrols, the department has nearly 20 bike-certified
officers.
Officers are required to be first-responders for calls that dispatchers send
a regular patrol officer to. Their job is to be a visible icon community
residents can feel comfortable approaching and to deal with potential problems
between neighbors that could escalate into something more serious.
Bike patrols are also cost effective, with 10 to 15 bike officers being able
to be fully outfitted for the cost of one patrol car, according to statistics
from the IPMBA. Bike patrols can travel faster and farther that foot patrols
and are useful as a public relations tool.
Copyright ©2002, Ogden Publishing Corporation
(reprinted with permission)
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