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Pawnee Sheriff Begins Bike Patrol Program, Looks to BPD for Training

The Pawnee County Sheriff's Department in Nebraska is developing a new bike patrol program and is counting on expert training from the BPD bike unit to get it on the right path. The Pawnee County Sheriff covers five towns and is developing its own bike unit to enhance its ability to patrol the towns. Pawnee Sheriff Deputy Marcus Siebken, is the first in that county to be trained in bike patrol and was one of five officers to attend BPD's most recent "Policing by Mountain Bike" training course.

The Bellevue Police Department bike unit hosted its twice yearly "Policing by Mountain Bike" course, a 4-day training session from May 19th-22nd. Upon completion of the course, officers are certified in bike patrol. Attendees included officers from Fremont, Papillion and one from the Pawnee County Sheriff's office. BPD offers the police bicycle training course twice a year to officers from all over the Midwest.

The officers started with the basics of bike handling and then progressed through obstacle courses, slow speed maneuvering techniques, city riding and off-road mountain biking. BPD's Sergeant Jay Kirwan developed the course. He said most police bike patrol training programs emphasize teaching people how to ride a bike better. The BPD program however, emphasizes policing techniques on a mountain bike. He explained, "we don't want the first time they make a traffic stop from a bike to be in the real world. We include real-life scenario based situations as much as possible." The course also covered the unique methods used by modern bike officers including the fine points of safely using the bike to make traffic stops, conduct surveillance, contact persons on foot, pursue fleeing subjects, control crowds, and many other uses.

Photo: Pawnee County Sheriff Deputy Marcus Siebken navigates training course.