Crime Busters on Bikes : Police: Pedal-powered patrols, due to debut today in Dana Point, will enable officers to move quickly in crowded areas as well as improve relations.

They have been used to bust prostitution and drug rings on the Strip in Las Vegas, to patrol the port city of Seattle and to tackle violent crime in the gang-infested neighborhoods of Paramount.

But today, bike patrols debut in this quiet harbor city where police and residents hope they will help stamp out car thefts, vandalism and nagging petty crime.

“Our patrols on wheels are going to be a whole new experience,” said Lt. Dan Martini, a sheriff’s deputy who serves as Dana Point’s police chief. “They’re the modern form of the cop on horseback.”

He got the idea while he and his family vacationed in Las Vegas last summer. As he drove through the Strip and got nowhere, Martini noticed that police officers on bicycles casually weaved through the traffic, arresting some drivers and citing others.

Martini, who said he wondered if he could use bike patrols in Dana Point, then thought about the street sales of drugs in the crowded and sometimes inaccessible Lantern District, the reports of stolen cars and vandalism in the Doheny and Capistrano Beach areas, and juvenile crime at Salt Creek Beach.

He later told the City Council that bicycles would offer police officers mobility in the crowded residential districts and would improve contact between police and citizens.

Last week, the council approved $2,195 for two mountain bikes and riding equipment, such as shorts, shoes, gloves and helmets. Unlike Las Vegas, where the officers wear spandex biking shorts, deputies assigned to Dana Point will wear ordinary green cotton shorts.

“I didn’t care for the spandex look,” Martini said. “You have to understand they have a pretty different environment there.”

The bikes--two 21-speed Raleigh Chills--arrived at City Hall on Thursday. At 26 pounds, they are 5 pounds lighter than the average mountain bike. The tires are made of tough Kevlar, making them virtually puncture-proof.

And the “rapid fire” push-button system makes shifting gears smoother and pedaling easier, said Jim Curwood, owner of South County Cyclery, which sold the bicycles to the Sheriff’s Department.

Deputies Daniel J. Salcedo and Joe Homs, the two Community Support Unit officers who make up the patrol, said they can hardly wait. Salcedo, who is a mountain biker, said the bicycles will give him and his partner “a sort of invisibility” in certain areas of the city.

“It’s a lot less intimidating too,” Homs said. “If you’re in a police car, people are afraid to come up to you. But with a bike, they feel closer to you.”

Residents and business organizations welcome the bike patrols, which will begin next Wednesday.

“Anything that gets the officer closer to the public is good,” said John Kutschka, president of Concerned Residents of Dana Point. “The black-and-white car is a barrier, but when they’re on bikes they’re normal human beings.”

Jody Tyson, general manager of Dana Wharf Sportfishing and president of the Dana Point Harbor Assn., said the bike patrols will be more effective in patrolling the businesses near the harbor.

“There are lots of patio areas, walkways and such places that cannot be reached by a police car,” she said. “We had police on horseback during the Fourth of July weekend, which was great, but it caused traffic problems because people wanted to stop and look.”

Several police departments in Orange County use bicycles but not on a permanent basis. Santa Ana occasionally sends bicycle patrols into apartment complexes with crime problems or into parking lots where auto thefts repeatedly occur, said Maureen Haacker, a police spokeswoman.

Officials for other police departments which have bike details predicted that Dana Point will have no regrets about introducing the units. Tina Drain, a spokeswoman for the Seattle police, said the department bike patrol, now a fixture on the force, began as a pilot project in 1987.

“In some cases, it’s better than being on foot, in a car or on a horse,” Drain said. “You can chase people through yards, up and down stairs. . . . We had a couple officers who pursued a car and caught the guy.”

Sgt. Cole Hughes, a Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy stationed in Paramount, said his six-member bike squad has arrested about 50 people a month since it began two years ago.

“Our bikers have arrested (everyone from car thieves) to a man wanted on a 14-count murder indictment,” Hughes said. “It’s a very positive form of patrol. When we ride through some neighborhoods, people applaud us. As for the drug dealers, they have no idea who we are until the last second.”

Martini said he plans to ask the 15 patrol officers in Dana Point to train so that they can use the equipment. Salcedo predicted there will be little resistance to that suggestion.

“Who is going to complain when you get to ride a bike in this nice coastal weather and do your work at the same time?” he said. “Perfect working conditions, perfect.”

Times correspondent Len Hall contributed to this report.

DANA POINT CRIME AT A GLANCE

Offenses reported in 1989*

Crimes Against People

Homicide: 1

Rape**: 5

Robbery: 22

Aggravated assault: 92

Crimes Against Property

Burglary: 357

Car theft: 105

Larceny/theft: 623

Arson: 25

* Men accounted for 92% of the adult felony arrests and 91% of the misdemeanors.

* Adults accounted for 93% of the felony arrests; juveniles 7%.

* The most common juvenile arrests: burglary (8) and theft (7).

* 1% of all the felony arrests made in the county were in Dana Point, in line with the city’s proportion of the population.

* Drunk driving (96 arrests) and drug law violations (82) were the most common misdemeanor arrests.

* Most recent data available

** Includes attempts

Source: California attorney general’s office

POLICE PATROLLING METHODS

On each Orange County city street, crime-fighting methods and deterrence are similar. Patrol cars cruise the streets. Sometimes, officers even leave their cars to walk a beat. Those cities contracting with the Sheriff’s Department enjoy the best array of services, from mounted police to helicopter patrols. But not every city has a pedaling patrol unit. In fact, Santa Ana is the only city with a full-time, day-to-day bicycling police unit.

While plenty of cities use bicycle police to wind in and out of traffic during special events (Buena Park has T-shirt-and-shorts-clad cycling police on patrol during Silverado Days and Costa Mesa officers “cruise” the parking lot of South Coast Plaza for auto burglars), few find the need to routinely use a bicycle corps.

Here’s how the various city police forces keep track of the streets:

Foot Mounted City Bicycles Helicopters Motorcycles Patrols Patrols Anaheim * * Brea * Buena Park ** * * Costa Mesa ** * * * Cypress * * Dana Point*** * * * * Fountain Valley Fullerton ** * Garden Grove ** Huntington Beach ** * * * * Irvine * Laguna Beach * * Laguna Niguel*** * * * La Habra ** * La Palma Los Alamitos ** Mission Viejo*** * * * Newport Beach * * * Orange * Placentia ** * * San Clemente * * San Juan * * * Capistrano*** Santa Ana * * * * Seal Beach * * Stanton*** * * * Tustin * Villa Park*** * * * Westminster * * Yorba Linda**** * * *

**Bicycles are available for police officers to use on patrol; however, uses are generally limited to patrolling for special events and special circumstances only.

*** Contracts with the Orange County Sheriff’s Department for law enforcement services.

**** Contracts with the city of Brea law enforcement services.

Source: Individual police departments

Researched by: APRIL JACKSON / Los Angeles Times