Garda 'on yer bike'!

by paulfromlcc - lcc Tue May 06, 2003 01:05

nice to see this
does this mean the mass
will get proper support?

by Gaillimhed Tue May 06, 2003 11:19

Yeah we got 4 of these guys in Galway now too.
* must prove the old adage 'if ya cant beat em -join em'.
But seriously though -is it just a PR stunt?, I mean whats a cycle cop supposed to DO? Are we supposed to believe that they will weave through city traffic in their determined pursuit of villains, give chase to muggers, and generally perform as two-wheeled heroes in cycle shorts keeping the streets safe where their patrol-car colleagues cannot?

by kokomero Tue May 06, 2003 12:13

Actually they had them in Dublin during operation "freeflow" @ Christmas. The only thing I saw them doing was catching cyclists who broke the lights on Parliment St. or Dame St. This was probably a reaction to complaints from motorists that cyclists were not being penalised. They have since dissappeared from the streets during rush-hour on my daily bike run.

by Mags Wed May 07, 2003 17:37

on Parnell Sq about two week ago. I was sitting on a bus and was looking at the cop for about a minute before I realised what he was. Very trendy gear indeed, what happened to large overweight cop in uniform wearing the old bicycle clips :) Anyway the new pushbike cop was looking behind him and suddenly did a huge U-turn and belted back down the street against the on-coming traffic. My bus went on, so I could not see what crime he detected.

by jim Wed May 28, 2003 22:33

especially the west coast, bike cops are used for crowd control. The are often used to swoop in to arrest someone they do not like, they use the bike as a kind of shield/club thing. They have trained and trained here in seattle to manouver on bikes. They are generally used during smaller protests or on the fringes of larger ones. Esentially cavalry tactics.