Bicycle patrols for city

As the Guyana Police Force continues with efforts to boost crime-fighting initiatives, ranks on pedal cycles will be placed throughout the city and other sections of A Division (Georgetown-East Bank Demerara)

Cops on bikes: Ranks at Police Headquarters, Eve Leary on Monday

A simple ceremony was held at the Tactical Services Unit (TSU) Square at Police Headquarters, Eve Leary on Monday for the junior ranks who completed a rigorous one-week training course on operating the bicycles to fight crime. Assistant Police Commissioner and Head of Operations, Clifton Hicken told reporters that the bicycles were lighter, easier to handle and better to move through the congested capital city.
“It’s easier to handle, it has cushions …and there are some drills that were done that can enable the bicycle riders to effect arrest without any harm. Having gone through the necessary training, we thought it necessary to establish the bicycle patrols now,” he related.
The Operations Head indicated that 25 bicycles were allotted to A Division while C Division (East Coast Demerara) will have 18. The Commanders of the seven Police Divisions will determine how many of the 170 donated bicycles they require.
“I think this initiative is timely and it is always good to maintain what we have, so we have developed a maintenance policy so that the bikes can be taken care of,” Hicken noted. He underscored that this initiative would allow the Police to have better interaction with members of the public, adding too that the Force initiated Team Policing initiatives which can boost intelligence operations.
“The bicycles help Police to navigate easier through the traffic and it helps members of the public to have easy access to the Police because they can flag down Police on a bicycle as against a police riding with speed on a motorcycle or a car,” he noted.
Twelve ranks, including four from the City Constabulary, received training in Las Vegas, Nevada last year. Apart from the 170 bicycles given to Police, 30 were given to the Constabulary.
The overall donation, worth US$145,000, was made in support of Guyana’s Community Outreach Programme by the US Embassy.