Stealth Patrol : Bicycle Police Have the Edge in Traffic and Get to Know People on the Beat

Los Angeles police Officers Tina Peebles and Erick Trigueros were responding to a report of drug dealing near 11th and Lake streets, one of the most dangerous areas in the city.

The officers saw their suspect, a young woman wearing a pink shirt, and she saw them--much too late.

After trying to pass some crack through a fence to someone, the woman, panicking, shoved the drugs in her mouth.

But before she could swallow, Trigueros was next to her. He talked her into spitting out the crack, and she was arrested.

It was a routine arrest for the bicycle officers. But it was a situation that officers in a patrol car may have missed.

“These guys (bike patrol officers) are stealthier than we are,” said patrol Officer George Breitigan, who picked up the woman and drove her to the police station. “(Drug dealers) have lookouts. They see us from two to three blocks away. But these guys can sneak right up on them sometimes.”

For the last year and a half, Peebles and Trigueros of the department’s Rampart Division have worked the toughest bike patrol in the city: MacArthur Park. They are among 70 LAPD bike officers.

Saturated with drugs, gangs and prostitution, the park area is considered to be unsafe to drive through, let alone walk in. It is a community that many feel has been lost to crime.

That is why the bike officers’ role is so important, Peebles and Trigueros say. In addition to answering radio calls and enforcing traffic laws, they are meant to be a friendly, visible police presence.

“When you’re in a black-and-white (patrol car), you have less people contact. (On bike patrol), you get to know the people in the area,” said Peebles, who along with her partner cycles for about five hours a day.

Dressed in navy blue shorts and a light blue shirt with “Police” emblazoned on the back, and riding black-and-white mountain bikes with “Rampart Police” painted on the frames, bike police are hard to miss.

But compared to patrol cars, they have certain advantages.

“They are often the first to arrive at a call,” Lt. Michael Mines said. “I’ve seen them get to calls where our patrol cars were stuck in traffic or at a red light.”

Their disadvantage is that they can be vulnerable on bicycles.

“A year and a few months ago I had a guy try to run me over, all because he was upset over a parking ticket,” Trigueros said.

And the officers must worry about their bikes being stolen while they are making an arrest.

Peebles and Trigueros, like most bike patrol officers in California, took a three-day police training course where they learned how to approach suspects, jump curbs, ride down stairs and use their bikes as obstacles to detain suspects.

“They don’t just hop on bikes and go,” said Mines, adding that the patrol is respected by other officers. “I don’t think they look at it as a frill. It’s a hard-working unit.”

Most businesses near the park are pleased with the patrol.

“Considering the enormous problems we have here, they’re doing a good job,” said Maurice Hernandez, manager and part-owner of the Botica Del Pueblo pharmacy on Alvarado and 7th streets. “Despite the abuse they take from criminals in the area, they make every effort.”

The two-officer bike patrol began in the MacArthur Park area three years ago when Hernandez and the owners of Langer’s restaurant donated two Diamond Back bikes to the department.

“The bicycle cops are better for the community,” said Tony Azizgolshani, who owns a beauty supply store near 7th Street and Westlake Avenue. “They come inside and talk to us.”