SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO : Bicycle Cops Put Mettle to Pedal

As Paul Meginnis steered his bike down the street, children appeared and shouted one word: “Stickers!”

Meginnis, a sheriff’s deputy who makes both arrests and friends as one of the city’s new bicycle cops, also hands out decals to youngsters.

“We’re just trying to break down the stereotype of the police in cars in full uniform,” said the five-year veteran. Meginnis and fellow deputies Scott Kennedy and Frank Nin form the city’s new community-policing team.

The deputies are assigned to two condominium complexes that generate a sizable portion of police calls for everything from loud stereos to gunshots in the night.

But the deputies patrol not just on two wheels. They also can be found on foot or in an unmarked car.

Sheriff’s Lt. Paul Sullivan said the program is intended to make residents more comfortable when calling police attention to problems. Some of the residents, Sullivan said, fear retaliation from gang members and even other neighbors for reporting suspicious activity.

Staying in touch with at-risk teens is also an important part of the job. Meginnis, for instance, chatted during his rounds on a recent day with a 14-year-old boy he had visited in a hospital after the boy was shot last March.

Deputies have been riding their mountain bicycles through the Capistrano Villas and Casa de Capistrano complexes for about three weeks. Already, the team has made arrests on drug and weapons charges.