State Police Team Up With Benton Harbor Public Safety For Bike Patrols

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michiganstatepolicegood-218

Residents of Benton Harbor will be seeing Michigan State Police troopers and officers of the Benton Harbor Department of Public Safety zipping down the street on bicycles this summer. Michigan State Police Lieutenant Jeremy Carlisle tells WSJM News it’s a partnership between the two agencies to offer greater police outreach to the community.

“We find that troopers are very approachable when they’re on the bicycle,” Carlisle said. “We have a lot of kids come up and they like to look at our bikes and want to talk to us about them and ask us questions.”

Being on bikes can also help with standard police work.

“We really like the bike patrols on some occasions because in some areas, particularly urban areas, a lot of times they can get to a scene or location quicker than a patrol vehicle due to traffic or other circumstances. For example, if you want to cut through a yard or go through a park or something like that, it’s much easier with a bicycle.”

Carlisle says the bike patrols started last summer, and they’ve worked well. He notes kids are always interested in speaking with officers on bike patrol and will sometimes ride with them. The bicycle patrols will continue through October.