On the Bike Beat : Patrol: Police roll against crime in Hollywood. The goal is to increase the officers’ mobility and stop crime by sneaking up on wrongdoers.

Sgt. Jim Blum loaded his 9-millimeter Beretta pistol, checked the gears and brakes on his 18-speed mountain bicycle and quietly pedaled Thursday night into Los Angeles police history.

At 7:30 p.m., Blum and nine other Hollywood Division officers launched the department’s first full-time urban patrol on bicycles. The goal: to increase the officers’ mobility and stop crime by sneaking up on drug dealers, purse snatchers and other wrongdoers.

As he prepared for his first bike patrol, Blum, 36, said the chief crime-stopping advantage of a bicycle is simply being on wheels in the open air.

“When you’re on a bike, you can hear crime, you see it, you smell it,” he said.

And it’s easier to surprise crooks. After all, Blum asked, “when’s the last time you saw a cop on a bike?”

The patrols will operate on the streets around Highland Avenue and Hollywood Boulevard--an area with “hot spots” of narcotic sales and street prostitution. Burglaries from vehicles and assaults on the camera-toting tourists who visit the Hollywood Walk of Fame are also common.

Los Angeles is not the first city to establish bicycle patrols. Seattle pioneered the tactic in 1987. Now, 28 pedaling cops patrol citywide.

This summer, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department established a bicycle patrol in neighboring West Hollywood.

Some LAPD officers also patrol the bike paths at Venice Beach. But Thursday’s action marks the first use of bicycles in an urban setting of alleys and speeding vehicles.

Police and city officials will assess the unit’s effectiveness in three to six months. Blum said more bicycle units could be created to patrol in other police divisions.

The officers chosen to participate in the program--all volunteers--underwent 32 hours of training to learn to negotiate through the heavy weekend traffic of cruisers. Since they will be pedaling for almost an entire eight-hour shift, they also worked on their physical conditioning.

Officer Burt Feldtz, 26, seemed a little apprehensive about his new assignment. But mostly, he was eager to begin.

“You don’t have a steel cage around you like in a car,” he said. “But as long as we keep our eyes open, I think we’ll be OK.”

Before departing, Blum gave Feldtz and the other officers a quick pep talk at the Hollywood Division station house.

“Be good to the good guys,” he told his troops. “And book the bad people. . . .

“And let’s have some fun out there.”

A short while later, the eight policemen and two policewomen guided their bikes north on Wilcox Avenue toward Sunset Boulevard, illuminated by the headlights of passing automobiles. Almost immediately, they were greeted by the surprised stares of passersby.

One tough-talking teen-ager standing at the corner of Sunset and Wilcox said he didn’t much like the idea of cops on bikes.

“They’re in cars. That’s bad enough,” he said. “Now you won’t be able to go anywhere. It’s not going to be as free as it is now.”

Raymundo Camacho, 18, interjected: “They’re going to get tired. I can’t last on a bike more than four hours. What are we going to see them riding next? Skateboards?”

By late Thursday, no arrests had been reported by the bike patrol.