Councilor Davis Partners with APD to Expand Bicycle Patrols in Southeast

During a news conference on May 16th, City Councilor Pat Davis announced that APD’s Southeast Area Command Problem Response Team (PRT) will add bicycles to their toolbox for community policing. 

APD has been staffing up the PRT since 2018. Officers assigned to the unit are not primarily responsible for taking calls for service and instead work together with the community to address problem areas in a proactive way. 

During a ride along with PRT earlier this year, Councilor Davis learned that PRT officers completed a week-long training program for bicycle officers, but returned to the area command without bicycles. 

Davis utilized his councilor-directed public safety funds to purchase six new mountain bikes for Southeast Area Command’s newly trained officers. The total cost was just over $6,000.

“I’m proud to help our officers put their community policing training to work for our neighborhoods,” says Davis. “Having Officers with the ability to get out of their cars and closer to residents and businesses makes APD more visible and reinforces our community policing vision.” 

“Since coming to office, Mayor Keller and Chief Geier have prioritized proactive initiatives like PRT. Their commitment to training more bicycle and problem response officers means that our residents will see more of our police and be more engaged in the strategies that prevent crime,” adds Davis.