Owatonna Police adds bike patrol
Officers Anthony Metcalf, left, and Tony Malepsy are zipping around Owatonna this summer on something new—bicycles. Here, they converse with citizens during the recent Downtown Thursday. The police department has added bike patrol as a way to strengthen connections within the community. Staff photo by Rick Bussler
The Owatonna community will be seeing local police officers in a new way this summer: patrolling on bikes.
The bike patrols’ main functions include creating a better connection with the community and improving policing on city parks and trails. The new unit will also be used at downtown events.
Additionally, the bikes can be used to decrease crime.
“[In] areas that are being targeted for burglaries or thefts, it’s a quiet operation where we can patrol the neighborhoods covertly,” said Capt. Andrew Drenth.
Drenth credited Chief Jeff Mundale for the idea of bringing a bike patrol to Owatonna Police Department (OPD). He cited getting “more out in the public” and “health and wellness” as two benefits of the program.
“[Being on a bike] breaks down the barriers and the walls of having a patrol officer in a car,” Drenth said, adding that officers are hoping to be more approachable and have more “human interaction.”
The community connections are especially targeted towards kids. Bike patrol officers will be equipped with candy and coupons to The ‘Scream for kids who are wearing their helmets.
The new bikes will allow officers to quickly get to citizens in areas not accessible via patrol car. These areas include Kaplan’s woods and other trails.
“Before we had bikes, we would like to patrol the paths, but we’re in a patrol car, and it eats up the whole trail,” Drenth said. “This is much safer for us to be on a bike, and we can have a conversation with people as we pass them.”
Officers will wear a uniform specific to the bike patrol when on duty. It will include a blue top, which can hold their body armor, and black pants or shorts depending on the weather.
The police bike itself is electric and can reach speeds of 30 miles per hour. It will be equipped with a siren and lights, as well as a bag behind the seat to hold whatever an officer may need.
Officers can also choose from among six settings that regulate how much assistance they have from the bike.
OPD sent two officers, Anthony Metcalf and Tony Malepsy, to Minnetonka for training, and those two officers will train another eight to 10 Owatonna officers who will make up the bike patrol.
“The program that they are using is called IPMBA. It’s the International Police Mountain Bike Association,” Drenth said.
The OPD is looking forward to making stronger connections with the community on their bike patrol this summer and for years to come.