Fairfax County Police Bike Units Important Part of Patrols

By day, the Culmore section of Falls Church is a bustling business district with schools and heavy traffic especially along Leesburg Pike.

When night falls, lurking in the shadows of the fluorescent lights from a variety of ethnic restaurants are sometimes drug deals, prostitution and drunks. Away from the bright lights of Leesburg Pike on dark side streets is where these activities take place and that’s where you’ll find the Fairfax County Police Department’s Mason District Police Station Neighborhood Patrol Unit, on their bicycles.

“Late evening is when they get involved in most of their adventures,” said Lt. Charles Riddle, commander of the Mason Station NPU.

For several years, Fairfax County Police have deployed their bike patrols throughout the entire department. Currently, there are 60 officers trained for bicycle patrols throughout the district and each station has between six and 10 officers on their respective NPU teams, police spokeswoman Lucy Caldwell said. Bike patrols cover a wide variety of areas, including shopping centers, parks and walking trails, apartment complexes, school grounds and residential neighborhoods, she said. Fully equipped with police decals, lights and other necessities, each of the mountain bikes cost about $3,000, Caldwell said.

Thursday night, a six-man team — not including Riddle — hit the streets on their bicycles, riding through alleyways and dark apartment complexes in the Culmore area looking for offenders. In 2012, the Mason Station’s NPU accounted for 878 arrests while patrolling on their bicycles and made contact with an additional 378 people in the community.

“We can sneak up on people,” said Officer Eric Crago who has been assigned to the Mason Station for almost 10 years and a member of the NPU for the last five years. “Usually at night, they don’t see us. In a car, they can see you a mile away.”

Because they are out in the community in a capacity unlike their counterparts in patrol cars, they personally get to know residents and business owners. Officer Tom Divers said that helps when the NPU works with other divisions under the Fairfax County Police umbrella. With flexible schedules within their four 10-hour shifts, members of the NPU help with drug busts and prostitution raids. Divers said their ability to call people on a first-name basis helps when getting information from probable suspects.

“You get a lot more freedom and you get exercise,” said Divers who has been at the Mason Station for the last seven years and on the NPU for the last three years. “We like to get out as much as possible.”

Officer Dean Tran has been with Fairfax County Police for the last 13 years, the last five with the Mason Station NPU. Tran, one of about 10 bicycle instructors for the county, said officers must complete a week of training mandated by the International Police Mountain Bike Association. NPU officers must wear a helmet, eye protection, gloves and a special uniform along with their firearm and other necessities.

Once the officers are trained and equipped, they hit the streets to patrol areas in need of up-close and personal patrolling.

“Our job is very public,” Tran said. “The people in the neighborhoods are the eyes and ears of the community.”