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December 4, 1997

Once afraid to ride, Pitt officer is now training others for bike patrol

The first time Pitt police officer Rick Troy climbed on a bicycle without training wheels as a boy, he rocketed down a hill near his home in the South Hills and into an alley where he lost his front wheel.

Coming to an abrupt stop, Troy flew head first over the handlebars and skidded across the pavement. The incident left him shy of bicycles until the Pitt Police Department decided to create a bike patrol unit in January 1994.

Troy joined the police department in April 1993 after earning a degree from Pitt in administration of justice and legal studies, and working for nine years in the Office of Facilities Management. Thinking it was time he got over his childhood trauma and learned to ride a bike, Troy, 35, signed up for the new unit and, after passing a strenuous physical, was accepted.

Today, Troy is such an accomplished rider that he has begun to train bike officers for police departments throughout the Pittsburgh area.

"I do it because I actually enjoy it," Troy said. "I enjoy riding bikes because when I started I couldn't." Since becoming part of the International Police Mountain Bike Association's Police Cyclist Instructor Program, Troy has trained, or helped to train, bike officers for the City of Pittsburgh, the Pittsburgh Housing Authority, New Kensington, Munhall, Tarentum and McKeesport.

Sgt. Nick Havrilla of the Munhall Police Department, himself a Pitt graduate in administration of justice, called the bike officers Troy helped to train "the best thing since sliced bread around here in the summer time." According to Havrilla, the bike patrol officers have had a very positive influence on policing Munhall. "I think they are very effective in certain types of urban policing where you have to quietly get in and out of an area rapidly," he said. "The criminal element out there sees that and they don't know when these guys are going to appear ." Aside from the joy he takes in riding a bike, Troy likes meeting officers from other police departments, especially those who. like him, didn't enjoy bike-riding as kids. "Once you get them going over things and down steps, it's enjoyable," he said.

It may sound simple, but maneuvering up and down steps is one of the most dangerous acts a bike officer faces on a day-to-day basis. Falling on stone steps even at slow speeds can cause serious injury, said Troy. That is why safely climbing and descending steps is such an important part of a bike officer's training.

"We start off on the smallest steps we can," Troy said. "There are certain positions that your pedals have to be in. Your buttocks have to be behind the seat so you don't tip over. You have to teach them how to properly use the brakes. That way if someone you're chasing does run down steps, you can pursue them and do it correctly without getting hurt." Police cyclist instructors like Troy also teach officers how to ride in traffic, properly change lanes, treat their bikes like a vehicles and even use a bike to help them accurately shoot a firearm.

"We teach how to shoot, not actually from the bike, but how to use the bike when you're riding and how to dismount the bike and shoot," Troy said. "We have a course and video that we use. And we actually fire from a bike." By far, though, most of the training deals with riding in traffic and responding to calls without getting hurt because "if we get hurt going to a call," Troy said, "then we have to tie up a car and possibly an ambulance on top of what is happening at the situation we're responding to." According to Troy, Pitt's six-person bike unit has been very effective in fighting crime and responding to calls. Bike officer Shannon Santucci was among the first officers on the scene of a Nov. 20 fire at an apartment house on Atwood Street. She helped a resident of the building escape through a second-floor window.

For her efforts, Santucci is being nominated by Pitt police Captain Tim Delaney for recognition in the FBI's Law Enforcement Bulletin. The monthly magazine recognizes officers who put themselves at risk to single-handedly rescue citizens from danger.

"You can really clean up an area with bikes because they are really visible," Troy said. "The community responds to them well because you're not in a car. When two or three officers are sitting on bikes on the corner everybody comes up and asks questions. You're more accessible."

–Mike Sajna

Filed under: Feature,Volume 30 Issue 8

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