
DATE: Thursday, April 24, 1997              TAG: 9704240385

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY CINDY CLAYTON, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: NORFOLK                           LENGTH:   79 lines

BICYCLING POLICE BRING THE LAW ON TWO WHEELS

One by one, the bicyclists speed to the shelter, jump off their mounts and start shooting.

The first shots are fired near the bike with little or no cover, then from behind support beams and a beat-up old mailbox.

Eight shots ring out as each man fires at several targets. He can miss two times - any more and he might as well be dead.

At the very least, he will be disqualified.

``Not bad,'' says range officer Mark Pierce of the bicycle cops in training. ``They could be better. The weather has been kind of bad.''

Thirty police officers from Norfolk, Chesapeake, Franklin, Suffolk and Elizabeth City are attending the Norfolk Police Department's bicycle patrol school this week. On Wednesday, they had a tough time pulling the guns from the holsters with rain-soaked, gloved hands.

Regardless of the weather, the officers attending the 40-hour, weeklong course must learn how to jump curbs, use their bikes as weapons against attackers and apprehend suspects while riding.

Each officer has to have at least one year of experience with his or her department and must pass written tests, get a passing score atthe firing range and ride a 20-mile course in less than two hours to become a certified bike patrol officer. Failing any part of the course means an officer has to take that part again. And again.

``It's been harder than I thought,'' said Cpl. David Welch, a Franklin police officer. Welch said he and fellow officer Patrick Wilson were sent to the school by their department as part of a new community policing initiative in that city. They will be two of the first four bike patrol officers in that city.

If bike patrols in Franklin are as successful as they have been in Norfolk, Welch said, he expects to see an increase in arrests for all kinds of crimes.

Norfolk police and city officials say having the officers assigned to public housing neighborhoods has contributed to a significant drop in violent crime in those areas.

In 1996, the officers seized more than $47,000 in drugs from the nine public housing neighborhoods, the bulk of it in Moton Circle and Roberts Village. They also made 65 felony and 98 misdemeanor arrests.

Norfolk has 38 full-time bike officers and at least 20 others who are certified to ride. The unit was formally organized in 1991. The department has hosted 12 schools that trained over 300 officers from Norfolk and other cities since 1993.

``A lot of people think they just jump on their bikes and go, but that's not it,'' said Norfolk Lt. Wally Driskell. ``The bicycle patrol is probably the best enforcement tool we've learned how to use.''

Criminals who run down alleys and into areas that are hard for police in patrol cars to reach are no match for officers on two wheels, he said.

``We ride right up on hand-to-hand drug sales,'' said Donna Levinson. ``They can't hear us coming.''

So far, the success of the bike patrol has been tangible - witness the success in Norfolk public housing neighborhoods.

``They're able to build up a good relationship with people in the neighborhoods,'' Driskell said. ``That's the whole idea behind community policing.''

City Manager James B. Oliver Jr. agrees. His proposed city budget, announced Tuesday, would provide enough money to double the number of bicycle officers on the streets next year.

More officers will mean more neighborhood coverage, more arrests and a more effective crime deterrent, said Cpl. David Huffman, the senior instructor at the school.

``The bike patrol is highly effective'' he said. ``Downtown they realize it and the citizens realize it, and they want to see more of us.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by MOTOYA NAKAMURA/The Virginian-Pilot

Herbert Showalter, left, assistant range master of the Norfolk

Police Firing Range, instructs bike patrol officers from police

departments all over Hampton Roads.

Photo by MOTOYA NAKAMURA/The Virginian-Pilot

Officer Manuel Fernandez of the Norfolk Police Department goes

through shooting training given for bicycle officers at the Norfolk

Firing Range. Police departments throughout Hampton Roads are

participating. KEYWORDS: NORFOLK POLICE DEPARTMENT BICYCLE PATROL BIKE PATROL