Law Enforcement Enters a New Cycle : Police: Five regular officers and three reserves will patrol the city on mountain bikes, : encouraging communication between police and citizens.

Several officers will patrol the city on mountain bikes this summer as part of a Police Department effort to integrate members of the force into neighborhood life.

The program, which began Tuesday, will allow officers to establish a presence in business districts, city parks and other primarily pedestrian areas, Lt. Mark Distaso said.

More importantly, officials said, the bikes will enable officers to get out of their cars and get to know the community.

“Putting guys on bicycles increases the face-to-face contact that officers have with the citizens,” Sgt. Lief Nicolaisen said. “It makes them more approachable.”

In the past, officers patrolling neighborhoods on foot developed friendly relationships with area residents and merchants, who in turn pointed out incipient problems, Distaso said.

Police hope the bicycle patrols will yield similar results in a time when most citizens only meet officers when they are pulled over for a traffic violation, or if they become crime victims.

“Many people are very reluctant to call the police because they have some level of intimidation and they don’t know who they are talking to,” Distaso said. “Then, problems fester and small problems grow into bigger problems.

“We want our bicycle patrol officers to make contact, and to find out what problems there are in an area,” he added. “We want to establish a friendship, a rapport, so that citizens feel more comfortable with the police.”

Five regular officers and three reserves have been assigned to the new duty. They will patrol in pairs, Distaso said, and one or two teams will be sent out daily. Instead of the “hard blues,” the officers will wear a uniform of shorts, polo shirts and bicycle helmets.

The officers will be encouraged to take time to talk with citizens.

“We’re going to come into contact with a lot of things that we wouldn’t normally see if we were in a police cruiser,” said officer Tony Futia, a 10-year veteran assigned to the patrol.

Although the bike patrols hark back to police styles of an earlier era, experts say they are part of the wave of the future. The Los Angeles Police Department has had officers on bikes in several divisions for about five years. Numerous other cities--including Seattle, Dallas, Miami and, in the San Gabriel Valley, Arcadia, Azusa, and Monrovia, have similar patrols, Distaso said.

“It’s really taken off,” said Robert Trojanowicz, a criminal justice professor at Michigan State University. He said the move to bicycles is an integral part of a nationwide move back to community-based policing after a period when many departments felt that officers should be “aloof.”

“The trend of the future is more face-to-face contact with the officer,” he said.

Trojanowicz said that, after some initial resistance, the bike patrols have become popular with officers, mainly because they can stay in shape while on the job.

“Word is getting around that this is a good assignment,” the professor said.

After the summer trial period, Glendale police said they plan to evaluate the program to see whether the officers are productive, and whether the patrols have enhanced community relations. If the program is successful, it could be expanded, Distaso said.