- BICYCLE PATROL -

The Somerset Police Department started it’s first-ever Bicycle Patrol Program aimed at Community Oriented Policing, Youth Education, and Crime Prevention in 2008.

One aspect of Community Oriented Policing is taking officers beyond the patrol cars where they can interact with the public and get to know their community better.  Officers will also conduct bicycle safety classes that will include education on the dangers of drug and alcohol use.

Officers will be assigned to work special events, such as SomerNites Cruise and SomerBlast, where regular patrol vehicles are not practical.  The bicycle-mounted officer can negotiate through crowds to respond to assistance calls quicker than an officer on foot, and safer than an officer in a patrol car.

Bicycle officers will be deployed in areas prone to criminal activity, or where patterns of criminal activity have been identified.  The bicycles give officers the benefit of stealth response, allowing them to get closer to prevent and detect crimes as they occur.

The Bicycle Patrol Program will begin this month with patrol officers mounted on Fuji Police Special Mountain Bikes.  The bicycles, uniforms, and training are being funded by seized assets from drug investigations conducted by the SPD and the Lake Cumberland Area Drug Task Force.

The officers assigned to the bicycle patrol are Chris Gates, Matthew Gates, Larry Patterson, Jordan Hoseclaw, and Billy Bolin.  These officers will complete training programs conducted in Indiana and Ohio.