Bicycle Patrols Prove Popular With Residents

As two Port Hueneme police officers quietly glide across the municipal beach parking lot on mountain bikes, the drivers of several cars simultaneously fire up their engines.

“The first sign of no parking permits,” said Sgt. Ken Dobbe with a smile. Dobbe is coordinator of the city’s newly established bicycle patrols.

In the patrol’s first 12 days of operation, police have made five arrests and issued about 80 citations ranging from drinking in public to parking violations.

Still, police say the primary benefit of the patrols is their public relations value. So far they have proven “extremely popular” with city residents, Dobbe said.

“They just like the interaction, the ability to come up and talk to you,” he said.

Bicycle patrols are something of a trend among police nationwide. Increasingly, they are seen as a key component of community-oriented policing, a law enforcement buzzword that stresses crime prevention as much as crime solving.

Bikes are also useful where car mobility is limited, such as crowded downtowns or beaches.

Oxnard and Ventura are among several county jurisdictions that have bicycle patrols. Now, Port Hueneme has joined them, using $1,200 in asset seizure money--cash confiscated from drug dealers--to purchase three mountain bikes for its 20 sworn officers.

The city has allocated enough money for about four hours of bicycle patrols a day.

Bill Morrison, who along with his wife has operated the Port Hueneme Pier Snack Bar, Bait & Tackle Shop for the last 12 years, applauds officers for doing everything from setting a good example for younger bicyclists by wearing helmets to upgrading their own image.

“It puts them in a different light,” Morrison said. “This city is a great city for bicycles--it’s flat [and] a lot of people ride bikes--and once the citizens know we have police on bikes they will think twice about doing anything wrong.”

The patrol’s stealth--enabling bicycle officers to go where no police car has gone before--has startled drinkers and pot smokers at the pier’s end or along the Bubbling Springs Park bicycle corridor.

“That element of surprise is there,” Officer Mike Federico said. “We’re on top of them before they can react.”

In addition, the patrols may have the unintended impact of replacing the stereotypical picture of the doughnut-chomping cop with a more healthful one.

“It’s caused an interest in bicycles,” Dobbe said. “Several guys have gone out and bought their own.”