Your chances of seeing a policeman on a bike are probably the best they've been for 30 years. What's causing the revival?

In most UK cities, and especially in London, the police are using cycles again in some shape or form. They're being used in standard beat / patrol work, but also more proactively as a response vehicle targetting drug trafficking, other street crime and major incidents. Bike patrols are policing Woodhouse Ridge, Leeds, Birmingham retail and business district, Edinburgh city centre, Brighton seafront and Cardiff Bay. In London, the number of bikes in the Metropolitan Police increased from just over 400 in summer 2005 to at least 1,825 with another 21 on order [September 2007], while the City of London (Square Mile) bike squad has risen from 14 at its inception in 2003 to 20 officers and 2 specials [July 2007].

In West Yorkshire the police report, "Recently, [May 2006] a member of the public walked into Wood Street Police station [Wakefield] and handed over a cheque for £500 for the police to buy another bike for the area in which he lives."

Some stations are still finding it difficult to get them in the budget; until they have been seen to work the beat officer may doubt their value. Once used, they are a unanimous success. The bike paramedics introduced in Aylesbury in 2006 have "proved better than I expected them to" according to the assistant operations manager for Mid Bucks ambulances [January 2007]. In Northumberland, "Figures for the eight weeks since the bike patrols started compared with the previous eight weeks show disorder has fallen across Cramlington by 30 per cent", a Neighbourhood Inspector reported in August 2007.

Tipton police on Santa Cruz Chameleons
(October 2005)

Their success isn't surprising and the advantages are common sense: one issue police talk about is the stealth factor. South Gloucestershire found them useful "to police Halloween [2005] as we can surprise the groups of youths by popping up where they least expect us". (In spooky masks maybe?) They're obviously good at getting to incidents in places like playing fields or canal towpaths. In Liverpool bikes were bought initially to target crime on the SUSTRANS Loopline bike route which follows a disused rail route: a place where a suspect who ran off could not be followed by a car. Bikes were again deployed on the Loopline in summers 2006 and 2007. Bikes are uniquely good for stopping offenders on bikes. The Metropolitan Police estimate that 30% of street robberies in their area, that is all of London except the City, are done by offenders on bikes. [February 2007.] In Sheffield, "After a spate of muggings and robberies in pedestrian underpasses, [bike] beats were adapted to include these areas. Virtually overnight this type of crime disappeared." There is growing recognition that bikes are the best response vehicle for some types of incident: following mass-fighting in a Maidenhead suburb, a resident said: "What we need is police coming around on bicycles - they can zip and catch people." [April 2007].

Officers on bikes were among the first sent to the scene of the London Aldgate bombing on July 7 2005

They are also quick. In Portsmouth in 2007 police reported: "During busy traffic periods we constantly beat our £30,000 BMW area cars across the city". In the City of London, where there are more bikes on patrol than cars, response times have halved with the use of bikes, and cycle police are sent to every grade 1 call from 7am to 11pm [February 2007]. Bike squads are being used to search an area such as a housing estate quickly following a crime. Falkirk police report success in dealing with teenagers on mini-motos (spring 2006).

They're easy for the public to flag down and talk to. They've been used as a barrier to establish a safe area on the road following an accident. Also reported is the way they break down barriers with kids who want to know about the bikes. And they can only be good for the overall status and profile of cyclists generally, a group still regarded as deviants by many other road users. If police use bikes, it shows it's a sensible, fast way to get around. They're cheap (and sometimes donated or sponsored): Glasgow City Council in 2000 reported that "15 officers can be deployed for the same cost as supplying and equipping one car". (Many forces, though not all, send officers on training so that may need to be factored into the cost. In Scotland, for example, officers from Central, Fife, Lothian & Borders, Dumfries and Galloway, Tayside and Strathclyde have been sent on Cycling Scotland training in the 2 years to summer 2006 ). And they keep the police fit. In the second half of 2002 the York Community Cycle Unit ran a six month pilot project involving one Sergeant and three PCs; there was no absenteeism through sickness.

At Portsmouth Town and Southampton football matches since season 2003 - 2004 police on bikes have been deployed for crowd control. In season 2007 - 2008 4 officers are being deployed at smaller games and up to 12 at big games (in pairs). They can watch rival fans further from the ground than police on foot so are an early warning system, and can act quickly to outflank a crowd or block a road if problems are developing. Each pair also has a camcorder for filming incidents. This concept may be extended to send real-time footage back to a control room to help make decisions. At Liverpool and Everton home games 1 or 2 pairs of police on bikes are being sent to cover matches in season 2007 - 2008, some in plain-clothes. Bike police were once again being deployed at major York Races meeting in 2007.

The drawbacks: not being able to transport people arrested, and when attending a large incident the bike isn't as quick as a car to secure. In the first case a car can be called. In the second case, cycling in 2s at least reduces the chances of a bike being stolen at a large incident, and some orders for bikes request a brake-mount fitted front-wheel lock which doesn't need a key to lock it, just to open it. A final drawback is that you can imagine them being less popular in really hilly cities like Bradford or Halifax or places in the Welsh Valleys.

If the Smith and Wesson gun - bike crossover seems strange, remember BSA, best known for bikes, motorised and otherwise, stands for Birmingham Small Arms. BSA was originally, and is still, a gun manufacturer.

What about the bikes themselves? Reliability and strength are more important than performance. Often they'll cover large distances every day, and kevlar anti-puncture tyre liners are useful. They are likely to be thrown down on concrete quite frequently. Front suspension for mounting or descending steps and kerbs is a given. Where a number of bikes are available at a station, rather than using considering them a pooled resource, an interesting idea is to allocate a bike to a pair of officers so they become responsible for its maintenance. Each bike in a large pool needs to be uniquely identifiable so it can have a service record similar to a car's.

There's a wide range of bikes in use at the moment, reflecting the haphazard way they were being introduced in ones and twos, although things are now getting more focussed. Central Birmingham's selection must have more street cred than most: 19 Kona Hoss (2004 model), 3 Kona CinderCones, 12 Claude Butler Cape Wraths, 10 Treks and 13 ProActives (December 2007). City of London, West Midlands and South Yorkshire police have all been supplied with (very high-spec) Chameleon Pursuit Pro bikes by Santa Cruz bikes. In fact Santa Cruz are the force approved bike in South Yorkshire (February 2007). Santa Cruz are also in Kent, the Met, West Mercia and Hampshire forces. Elsewhere Specialized Hardrocks are increasingly popular; after that it's a mixture of Giants, Treks, Saracens, Claude Butlers and many others. Where there's a more coordinated approach to buying bikes, sometimes the Smith and Wesson "Tactical" and "Custom" and lower spec "Perimeter" models are being chosen. The American weapons manufacturer only started making bikes in 1997, but their police bikes became popular in the US and are starting to do quite well here. Contracts exist for Smith and Wessons with the Metropolitan, Sussex, West Mercia, West Midlands, Kent and Hampshire police. (January 2007). They arrive white from the US and get marked up by suppliers over here, although unmarked undercover bikes are also used. The Perimeter tends to be chosen for beat work and the Tactical and Custom for more pro-active work which is likely to need more off-road cycling.

March 2008, Wanstead, East London: 2 PCs outpace a bus to catch a mugger who had jumped on to escape.

In Wrexham, Powercruiser electric bikes have been used since January 2007. They provide an equal amount of power to that being exerted by the rider on the pedal and are virtually silent. They look very much like an ordinary mountain bike. The battery does weigh 4kg though; furthermore a Brixham (Devon) PC who trialled the Powercruiser in March 2007 found the battery "only lasts about an hour on our hilly terrain before a 2 hour re-charge is required".

The kit that goes with the bikes is the clothes (shorts, waterproofs, flourescent tops, gloves, shoes etc), bags and racks, blue lights, sirens, marked helmets, locks and other optional extras.

It's perhaps not surprising that London, the only British city to be putting serious money into developing its cycling infrastructure, is leading the way. But where London leads, the rest of Britain often follows, so if you haven't seen a policeman on a mountain bike yet, keep looking.