Mississippi State University police are training to make sure this year’s force will be more visible and accessible than before. Seven officers took 40 hours out of their busy schedules last week to train under two certified MSU master officers in bicycle patrol. The extensive training brought the original 40 percent of patrol officers trained in bike patrol to 100 percent Friday afternoon when all of the officers successfully completed the training and passed the certification requirements.
Officers Eric Lewis, Ed Thompson, Kevin Lindsey, Michael Herman, Ken Edmonds, Josh Hobbes and Marcelo Mango completed what the Law Enforcement Bicycle Association calls the “B” level, or basic level, of training. That includes training in cardiovascular fitness, slow speed balance drills, hypothermia and dehydration training, a minimum of three training rides, accident prevention for officers, emergency braking and several police technical skills including maneuvering up and down stairs and exiting the bicycle during emergencies.
Besides field training, certified bicycle patrol officer hopefuls must complete a comprehensive written examination before strutting their new skills of exiting their mountain bikes in simulated incidents that include quick arrests. If the officer fails to pass all portions of any part of the training and final testing, whether verbal or physical part, the officer does not pass and must go through the entire process at a later date.
Danny Edwards, who trained the men with Eddie B. Scales II, said training the men in the basic course was the most effective and practical strategy for patrolling MSU.
Edwards also said the training was not new to Mississippi State police officers-the location was.
“Before, officers had to go to different locations to receive the training,” Edwards said. “That cost the department between $200 and $300. Having officers trained so that they could train future officers was a cost I am not aware of, but it is a great advantage that we are able to train all of our patrol officers here.”
Edwards said the money saved in being able to train locally will help give the officers a new means of protecting MSU and keeping it in better shape. He also said money is not the only reason MSU decided to train its officers in bicycle patrol six years ago.
“The money is not the issue. Maintaining the bikes is a cost even if we are using less gas since we’re not in the cars as much. The relationships that we are able to build with the citizens is the main reason why we do it. There’s no painted glass or a ton of steel between you and the citizens you are protecting,” Edwards said. “It really helps us to be more visible. We’re always out there, and we’re always out there to help-now we are more visible when we are doing our job which really helps with public relations with the students and citizens we are protecting.”
“Seeing the police riding around on their bikes makes you realize how many police there are that are working to protect you at MSU,” Liz Brannon, senior, said. “Out of a police officer on a bike and one in a car, I would probably go to the one on the bike because they seem to be less intimidating.”
Making the police more approachable is always a goal at Mississippi State University’s Police Department, Edwards said. He said that although the department provides the same services and protection that it always has, the bicycles help students and faculty see for themselves that the police are “people and approachable.”
One of the things that makes the bicycle patrol officers seem less intimidating is their more relaxed uniforms, but Edwards warns the relaxed uniforms do not mean relaxed police officers.
“These officers are able to do everything a car patrol officer can,” Edwards said. “They are in the same capacity as the other officers, including carrying a weapon. The only thing they would need assistance on would be a high-speed chase, and there are plenty of patrolling officers in the vehicles to assist in what the bicycle patrol officers may need help with.”
Edwards said that establishing better relationships with students and faculty makes his officer’s jobs easier, but he said the mobility that the bicycles provide are a means of safety for the officers and Mississippi State.
“We still provide escort services to students walking back to their residence or car late at night,” Edwards said. “If you escort an individual with a vehicle, you have to exit the vehicle. The bikes don’t need to be exited. The officer can carry his transportation with him up to the door, and he doesn’t have far to go if an emergency arises when providing this service.”
The bicycles provide a safer means of patrolling MSU since the officer does not have to exit his vehicle and leave his transportation. However, riding to an emergency at the opposite end of campus is something that Edwards said they work to keep from tiring the officers out to the point they are useless at the emergency.
“One of the main things that we are working on is training the patrol how to respond to an emergency without arriving too winded,” Edwards said. “We teach them how to effectively maneuver around or avoid obstacles without getting injured in the process.”
Like the Law Enforcement bicycle Association urges to “never give up, never stop trying,” Edwards said his department is doing just that-working to reach out to MSU students, faculty and visitors while protecting them, which he said is a hard goal to accomplish.
“But, the bikes really help,” Edwards said.
Last week was the first in-house training that Mississippi State police have done in the bike patrol’s six-year history. Edwards said that the training will continue as the need arises with new patrol officers. He said that the entire police department is not certified. Only supervisors and the bicycle patrol are the officers at this point have been trained and certified.
For more information on bicycle patrol, and its training, visit the Law Enforcement Bicycle Associations’s Web site www.leba.org.