Bike Patrol

The Orangeburg Department of Public Safety Started it’s Bike Patrol in the summer of 1999. Currently the department has 25 certified bike officers with assignments ranging from but not limited to: Neighborhood and Downtown patrol. Bike Officers are also involve in all special community events throughout the city Orangeburg. The bike officers are primarily assigned to patrol and perform bike duties in addition to daily patrol duties. The officers have bike uniforms that consist of a gray “polo” style shirt, navy pants or shorts, and a helmet.  They can patrol any area within the city but typically focus on public parks, apartment complexes, and any area so designated by shift the Lieutenant. The Bike Patrol Officer typically works in pairs as a precaution for officer safety and is a practitioner of Community Policing. There are many benefits from bicycle patrols:

• Officers are out of cars and accessible to public.
• Subjects cannot generally outrun officers on bicycles.
• Officers can approach silently on the specially designed bicycles which make them excellent for drug "sting" takedowns (stealth).
• Much more ground can be covered on a bicycle patrol than on foot.
• Bicycles can go where cars are unable to go.
• Costs are less for bicycles than cars.

Bike Officers are extremely successful at targeting specific crime problems as the bicycle allows the officer to catch criminals in the act as they are not easily heard or seen when patrolling.  The mobility of a bicycle allows the officers to patrol apartment complexes and parks when other forms of patrol cannot. The bike officer is not only an excellent crime fighter, but he/she is an icon within the community as they have close contact with citizens on a rotating basis.