IUPD Bike Patrol helps keep campus safe with fast response

IU Parking Operations recently donated several mountain bikes to the IU Police Department to help further the department's bike patrol program.\nThe IUPD Bike Patrol began in the early 1990s and benefits the student body with a faster response time. Because of its ability to cut across all sorts of campus terrain, they often arrive at the scene of an incident before a patrol car.\n"On the bike, officers can more efficiently cover more area and can move quickly to a location if needed for emergencies," said Capt. Keith Cash, IUPD's operations commander. "In some instances, they can arrive more quickly than a motor vehicle due to not having to go through traffic on the streets. This type of patrol is also excellent in high areas of pedestrian traffic." \nIan Lovan is an IUPD officer in the department's Part Time Officer Program, which allows him to finish his degree and gain law enforcement experience at the same time. Lovan is a member of IUPD's bike patrol and said he considers it a privilege because of the program's physical requirements. Only the top 10 most physically fit officers are eligible for the program.\n"The bike patrol adds greatly to the idea of community policing," said Lovan, a senior majoring in criminal justice. "Bike officers bridge the gap between foot officers and squad cars. Being on a bicycle allows you to be very visible, talk to the people while you patrol and answer questions they may have. The foot officers have the same benefit, but when you are in a vehicle, you can't really have the same rapport with the people."\nThe IUPD has a total of six Trek 8000 Police Bicycles, which are ridden by the specially trained police officers of the IUPD Bicycle Patrol.\nCash said the program began when he and a former IUPD sergeant attended a Mountain Bike School put on by the "Law Enforcement Bicycle Association" through the Fort Wayne, Ind., police department.\nAnd all the hard work and training Lovan and the other Bike Patrol officers devote to the program seems to have paid off.\nIn late May 2003, the IUPD set up an undercover operation near the Arboretum to try and catch a flasher who had exposed himself to young women. Officer Jennifer Buttice was in plain clothes and worked to try and bait the suspect. When the flasher made his appearance, he began to flee the area. However, Lovan was on his radio near Ballantine Hall and sped on the bike to the area where he saw the suspect running. \n"He fled through the woods behind Woodburn Hall, and I finally got him stopped there," Lovan said. "Since it would be impossible to get a car in that area at that time, I feel the bicycle played a big role in catching him. I'm not saying if I weren't there we wouldn't have caught him, but the bike did play a big part in his arrest."\nOfficers Dave Heckman, Buttice and Lovan later all received commendations for the arrest.\nLovan said the best thing about the the program is it gets so much done at once.\n"I get a charge out of being a bike officer because it's fun, it's exercise and its work all in one."\n-- Contact staff writer Brandon Morley at bmorley@indiana.edu.