South Swindon Police get electric bikes

Two electric bikes are being bought by South Swindon Parish Council for its Neighbourhood Police teams.

This agreement sees the Neighbourhood Police teams of the parish gain two electric bikes, to be used exclusively there and especially in the Broadgreen area. 

The bikes, to be purchased from Mitchell's Bike Shop in Shrivenham Road, are set to be rolled out in Autumn and serve as part of the 'safer neighbourhood' scheme. Mitchell's Bike Shop owner, Andrew Mitchell, explained that despite being pedal bikes, these acquisitions provide enormous assistance, allowing the user to go up to 15.5mph. 

This speed is what both PC Nicholas Finning and PC Ed Rogers believe will provide great benefits. PC Finning views the agreement as 'delightful', with the bikes enabling the teams to cover a greater distance, faster and in harder to reach areas. 

He explained: "This parish has a lot of uphill areas and the bikes will greatly reduce the time it takes to get from Point A to Point B. This will give us the upper hand, especially in the Broadgreen area where there are lots of alleyways which make traditional methods of policing hard to pursue." 

PC Rogers believes that due to the abundance of alleyways in the area, criminals are to engage in illegal activity with police disadvantaged being in cars and then chasing on foot. 

With the introduction of these bikes, he said: "You get an enormous increase in mobility that will enable the police to better crack down on crime in these areas. Added to that, there's a rise in criminals using electric bikes now too to evade law enforcement - so this will also help level the playing field in that sense."

Both Vice-Chair of the Parish Council Janine Howarth, and Central Ward Parish Councillor Junab Ali, who attended the hand over, believe that these bikes will also act as a fantastic way of increasing police visibility in the area. 

They both said that being on bikes instead of in cars allowed a friendlier and more visible approach to policing, one which would strengthen the rapport with the entire community.