SIERRA VISTA, Ariz. (KGUN) — The Sierra Vista Police Department has reinstated its bike patrol unit after a decade to connect with the community and improve response times.
The department is bringing back the unit for multiple reasons, including better community engagement opportunities and faster response times during events. Two officers recently completed training to restart the local patrol unit.
"I have a lot of expectations that this program is going to be another good bridge to connect the community and the police department," Chief Chris Hiser said.
The officers will be on their bikes at events, including protests, because the bicycles allow them to navigate crowded areas more easily.
"Bikes, obviously are a little bit more accessible in the tight spaces or crowded areas, you're able to maneuver around maneuver around obstacles a little bit better," SVPD Bike Patrol Officer David Pennington said.
Hiser said the bike patrol will help ensure safety during public gatherings.
"We see a lot of demonstrations, and we need to make sure that those are done safely and ensure community safety. And I thought bike patrol would be good for for those types of events," Hiser said.
Being on a bike will hopefully make the officers more approachable to the public.
"A police cruiser, it's it could be kind of intimidating some people, but I mean, on a bicycle, I guess you're a little less threatening," Pennington said.
The department recently purchased new bikes for the officers using funds from seized money.
"The feel of like riding these bikes compared to the older models that we have, that we have to actually take with us to the bicycle forest, these are way better," SVPD Bike Patrol Officer Ricardo Ruvalcaba said.
The plan is to add more officers to the bike patrol in the new fiscal year, starting in July.
"I saw some opportunities here in our community to bring bike patrol back in to kind of help expand our community policing footprint," Hiser said.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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Alexis Ramanjulu is a reporter in Cochise County for KGUN 9. She began her journalism career reporting for the Herald/Review in Sierra Vista, which she also calls home. Share your story ideas with Alexis by emailing alexis.ramanjulu@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook.
