HELENA – As of Tuesday May 28, the Helena Police Department started its downtown summer bike patrol.
The bike patrol helps make areas such as Last Chance Gulch, the Walking Mall, as well as other areas where cars are not easily driven through, safer.
Officer Mani Peterson and Kyle Walter were both specially trained for the summer patrol.
Both underwent 32 hours of rigorous bike training course in Ogden, Utah.
In order to become certified, each officer had to pass a written and practical exam.
The bikes are brand new and were specially designed locally in Helena.
Officer Kyle Walter spoke with MTN stating “With summertime coming and warmer weather coming in, obviously, the downtown area picks-up; there’s a lot more foot traffic in the Walking Mall…the name says it all, “Walking Mall,” so we obviously can’t get our cars up and down it too often. Especially, with crowds of people…”
Walter continued, “So the biggest thing with being on a bike just makes us a lot more accessible and approachable to the public, just wanna let them know we are there for them and if they need anything, that’s what we are there for, and that’s pretty much the deal with it.”
The Helena Police Department is excited to be able to add these bike patrol officers as an added resource to the community.
