The RCMP bike patrol is back on the streets of North Battleford for another season.
The primary purpose of the patrol is "to be visible and be on the streets to do basic patrol and then have other members come to help us if there's something going on the streets," said Cst. Jennifer Lepage. The patrol is typically out in the community from early spring to late fall.
"The majority of the calls come from the hub area because that's the busiest - the downtown - and they are first on scene to a lot of the calls," one of the many benefits of the patrol, explains Cst. Christa Taylor.
The detachment has a total of six officers who are trained for the bike patrol. The officers are trained in specific police aspects of safety. The four-day bike course is taken through the Law Enforcement Bike Association, situated out of the United States. Instructors came to North Battleford last year and provided training that consisted of in class instruction on physical fitness, nutrition, cycling injuries, effective cycling and accident prevention and up to five hours per day of training on bikes.
"People aren't expecting us to be out and about on bikes, so it's kind of an element of surprise," said Taylor.
That also contributes to their biggest occupational hazard associated with the job, which are other motorists on the road.
There are no specific areas that the bike patrol covers, "We just put on as many kilometres as we can," said Taylor.
Bike patrol is above and beyond an officer's regular duty and, with the detachment being so busy, it's not often they get out into the community, but Taylor is optimistic.
"We and the RCMP and the detachment think its very beneficial, we're just starting to get the bike program back into gear, and we're looking forward to what the future holds for the bike patrol."
