Video: Seth // Words: Daniel
If you’ve been following along for a bit, you may have seen the interview I did with Hans Rey a couple of months back. If you haven’t, then you can find it here. Nevertheless, we talked about the show Pacific Blue, how he did a lot of the stunts for it, and how it likely had a profound impact on a number of people, including myself. Seeing the cops taking down the bad guys and performing hair-raising trials maneuvers and stunts on bikes and seeing it on mainstream TV was incredibly cool. I know I wasn’t alone in wondering what it would be like to be a bike cop like that.
After seeing bike cops in various cities, oftentimes on bikes that were far inferior to what we typically ride, I also wondered how I would fare in a chase were I to run from them. Would they be able to ride down the stairs? Cut through the woods? Hop over curbs? It’s a question that I still had, and it turns out Seth had that question, too. So, there was only one way to answer it, and that was to find out firsthand, and I knew there was no better person to ask than Chief Andy LeBeau of the Boone, NC police department.
I called Chief LeBeau, knowing that he was an avid cyclist and also chief of the department. What I didn’t know is that he has been training and teaching police officers how to safely and effectively patrol on bikes for years, not just in Boone but for the majority of Western North Carolina. He was willing and eager to take Seth through a very condensed yet realistic version of the course he teaches to officers to see how he would fare. You’ll have to watch through to the end of the video to see how things went. I’ll just say that most of us have some training to do if we want to be up to Chief LeBeau’s level.
Answering the burning question of how often they get into a chase with a mountain biker, it turns out it’s just about never…at least in Boone. However, what does happen when officers are able to ride around on a bike — a far less intimidating presence than a patrol car — is that it may actually help the community. That’s at least what’s happening in Boone. While I was only in town for the day of pre-production, Chief LeBeau took us on a good ride around the hills of town and showed us how bikes help break down barriers in policing.
“Oh, see this neighborhood?” LeBeau goes on to explain how they’ve arrested half the adult males in it at one point or another for one thing or another. It’s a bad situation, especially for the kids living in houses with domestic violence, etc. “When we ride up on our bikes, the kids are happy to see us. They see us as people. People they know they can talk to, trust, and they that we’re on their side and there to help them and ensure they’re safe.” The bikes are far less formidable than a car with lights. It’s more humanizing. This was only one of a number of stories we heard and a clear example of how bikes can be practical in a variety of ways. Sure, they make it easy to discreetly roll up on someone who may be in the act of committing a crime, but they also provide a less intimidating or confrontational manner of engaging with and supporting a community. This seems to be especially true when they’re ridden by officers trained first to be empathetic and supportive of those living in higher-risk situations.
