Etobicoke bike cops on a mission to regain trust in communities
Cycling encourages interactions between police, residents
Toronto.com
July 31, 2019
Andrew Palamarchuk
Bikes not only help Etobicoke cops get closer to the community but also to solve crimes.
This was the case in late May when a pair of bicycle officers on routine patrol of the walking paths in King’s Mill Park near the Old Mill subway station came across a couple of tents, which on its own wasn’t highly unusual for the area.
“There are some homeless people living in the park,” explained Const. Dave Purvis, a bicycle cop with south Etobicoke’s 22 Division, who added that he was not personally involved in the particular case.
His two colleagues, he elaborated, also spotted a tarp. “Because it’s in a public park, we’re able to look under that blue tarp and there were eight (stolen) high-end bikes,” he said.
Stolen laptops, watches and jewelry were also found nearby.
About $20,000 worth of goods, stolen from break and enters, were seized from the area that day; police also arrested two men in connection with the crimes.
“You would never be able to get into that (area) if you were driving a marked scout car,” said Purvis, noting some of the stolen items did get returned to their rightful owners.
There are about 16 officers currently on bikes in 22 Division’s community response unit. They include Purvis and his partners constables Julie-Anne Walker and Craig Meredith.
Constables Dave Purvis, left, Julie-Anne Walker and Craig Meredith examine gang tags in the Islington Avenue and Birmingham Street area. Dan Pearce/Torstar
Walker said cops on bicycles have been around for more than a century in Toronto, though the bike unit “officially started” in 1989.
“They were mostly used in the downtown core. (It’s an) easier way to get around and a nice way for people to interact (with police),” she said. “At first, they (the public) didn’t really recognize them; they thought they were more like couriers.”
The bike program, said Walker, then branched out to other divisions. And by about 1990, 22 Division also had bikes.
Walker said bicycles are a “very convenient way” to patrol south Etobicoke’s “extensive” park and trail systems. “We’re bordered by two rivers. We’ve got the Etobicoke Creek on one side and the Humber River on the other, and throughout there are pathways that take you all the way from Eglinton Avenue down to (the) lakeshore,” she said. “There are a lot of issues that may happen in these parks and then there a lot of people just out for walks that live in the neighbourhoods that offshoot from these paths and they have lots of things to talk to us about.”
Constables Julie-Anne Walker and Craig Meredith load their bikes before heading off to their beat for the day in the area of Islington Avenue and Birmingham Street. Dan Pearce/Torstar
Walker said bicycle cops are better able to engage with the public than officers in cruisers who are going from one 911 call to the next.
“We go through a lot of neighbourhoods throughout our division,” she said. “When there are people out in their yards and they see us going by, we stop and talk to them. We are able to engage with them on a personal level … speaking to them about what problems they might see.”
That way, said Walker, police are able to build partnerships.
“There are a lot of communities that only see the police when something bad happens. We don’t want that to be the case,” said Walker. “We want people to know that we’re around all the time and that we’re there to be proactive. We want to know in advance what kind of dynamics each area has and what their problems could possibly be so that we can better use our resources.”
During a recent shift, Walker, Purvis and Meredith patrolled graffiti-filled alleyways in the Islington Avenue and Birmingham Street area, speaking with local residents along the way.
Area resident Paul Tonello said the graffiti doesn’t bother him. “It reminds me of New York City,” he said. “You know what, it’s kids who don’t have a canvas to paint on. That’s the way I look at it.”
Nevertheless, Tonello said he likes the presence of the bike cops.
“It’s like a blanket feeling, a little bit of security,” he said. “If there were some bad apples in the neighbourhood, (it’s) good to know that there are (bike cops) who are around. … I’m certain there are a lot of people, the older folk for example, that really appreciate seeing these people.”
Walker said bikes allow officers to go down back alleys quietly to conduct criminal investigations.
“If we have complaints of drug dealers in back alleys and things of that nature, it is more of a stealthy approach than a vehicle with headlights.”
Officers in the bike unit must undergo a two-day training course, and they operate the bikes between late March and early November.
“We’re very responsive to festivals (and) events,” said Walker.
Const. Julie-Anne Walker interacts with youth at an event at Varsity Stadium in May. 22 Division Police twitter
Bike cops from 22 Division are sometimes called to major events throughout the city, such as the recent Raptors victory parade, and large protests to help with crowd control.
“We have the additional resource of a bicycle that forms a barrier, and we’re trained on how to utilize our bikes (to do that),” Walker said. “If the crowd is becoming a little bit aggressive or unruly you can stand next to your bike and then put your bike between you and the people that are pushing and shoving and it forms a bit of a barricade, and then that way people know not to go past that point. It just makes an officer almost six feet long as opposed to just one foot wide.”
Conducting traffic enforcement is also part of the job.
“Often we have traffic complaints in certain neighbourhoods,” Walker said.
Many times though the officers observe traffic offences while riding during general patrol.
“You can see more than you can if you were in a car, so I can pull up next to somebody at an intersection on a bicycle and they don’t realize when they’re on their cellphone that I’m standing right next to them and can see them holding it in their hand,” Walker said. “I can make these observations much more clearly than I could if I was in a police car.”
But there are more challenges with safely pulling over motorists as the bikes aren’t equipped with emergency lights and sirens, just a loud horn.
“You have to get more personal with the driver and drive up next to them and indicate that you are the police,” said Walker. “We’re all wearing police uniforms, but often people don’t realize it because you’re on a bike. They don’t make that connection; it takes a little bit longer.”
Purvis admits some have misconceptions about bike cops.
“We’ve actually had somebody say, ‘You’re on a bike. Did you do something wrong?’” he said. “Some people perceive us on bikes as we’ve done something wrong or for some reason they took away our (driver’s) licence, but actually it’s a privilege to be in this unit and I’m glad I got selected for it.”
At times, bike cops also help frontline primary response unit officers clear up radio calls.
“We can attend some of the lower priority calls on our bikes because we don’t have to get there in as much of a hurry,” Walker said. “That frees up the uniform cars so that they’re available when the high priority calls come over.”
But Walker stressed the most important role of a bike cop is to be engaged with the community.
“We’re trying to create these relationships so that people feel comfortable coming to the police. We’re trying to regain that trust of the community,” she said. “Any time there’s any sort of bad publicity for the police, we all feel that, and we need to get out in our communities and remind people that we’re here for them, and once they tell us what the problems are, we can work together on resolving them.”
