Henderson brings back its bicycle police unit

Henderson residents at the Heritage Day Parade on April 26 probably had a few moments of deja vu.

The city’s Police Department reintroduced the dormant black-and-yellow bicycle unit at the parade, leading it and then working among the few hundred attendees.

The 18-member bike team was resurrected after the department received a $45,627 grant from the U.S. Department of Justice in late August. The funding paid for bicycles, uniforms, helmets and bike racks for patrol cars. There was no additional funding to hire new officers, so the unit was put together from current regular patrol officers.

Capt. Marc Cassell, who oversees the west patrol command, said plans for the part-time unit are evolving, but the goal is to get the teams out at least once a week.

“We don’t know yet how many hours that’s going to equate to,” Cassell said. “As many events as we can provide bicycle officers to without creating overtime issues. We have to balance what the primary job of all the bike officers.”

Bicycle patrols will be used for large events such as the Heritage Day Parade or the Art Festival of Henderson on May 10, as well as to respond to reports of increased crime activity in high-density residential areas, parks or trails as needed.

“Four officers could drive to a park, park their cars there, get out on their bikes and flood that area with a police presence in a matter of 10 minutes,” Cassell said. “They can get back in places where you can’t even see the parking lot that would take an officer on foot 10 minutes to walk to.”

The unit is more of a community policing unit than the city had in the early 2000s, according to Cassell. The original bike unit last decade was a “jack-of-all-trades” division that would do various tasks such as street-level narcotics investigations and patrols. This time around, the bike patrol “is a community relations and enforcement tool.”

Police Sgt. Kirk Moore said being out on the bike allows him to interact more directly with the people.

“When you’re in the car, even though you’re responding to calls, you miss the stuff in between,” said Moore, a 14-year veteran of the department. “And that’s talking to the everyday people.”

Moore said he talked to many adults and kids during the Heritage Day events because he was more approachable on the bicycle.

Police Lt. Dave Wilson, who oversees the bike patrols, said officers on bikes “are less intimidating.”

“The citizens themselves feel more comfortable approaching someone on a bicycle than a car,” Wilson said.

Cassell said the department hopes the bike patrols will reduce crime in targeted areas around the city, but also be a community outreach for the police.

The officers picked for the special duty went through what Moore described as a “rigorous” 40-hour training session offered through the Law Enforcement Bicycle Association and then the Metropolitan Police Department.

Metro has had bicycle units since around 1990 and has full-time units based at the downtown and Strip area commands, according to Metro police spokesman Sgt. Jesse Roybal. The police also deploy bike officers to large special events such as the Las Vegas Motor Speedway and Sam Boyd Stadium.

The training for Henderson included bike-handling skills, defensive maneuvers, endurance, close-quarter skills and shooting a firearm from a bicycle.

Roybal said he was unaware of any officer-involved shootings from a bicycle, but the training is given in case the scenario arises. The department trains motorcycle cops to use the same technique.

Moore said the training was intense, and there is more to bicycle policing than citizens might realize.

“It’s really multifaceted, not just riding around town,” Moore said.

Contact Arnold M. Knightly at aknightly@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3882. Find him on Twitter: @KnightlyGrind.