Smith & Wesson Tactical Police Bike (photo courtesy policebikestore.com)
Drug dealers in Watford, Hertfordshire (UK) are offering 150 British Pounds to anyone who trashes police officer Mark Pearce’s mountain bike. Apparently Pearce and his bike are pretty effective at fighting crime and the local gangs want to put a stop to the dynamic duo. Although the short article I read didn’t offer a lot of details, it does say the bike is equipped with “surveillance equipment, a camera, radio and siren.”
This certainly isn’t the first time we’ve heard about the effectiveness of police on mountain bikes but it is the first bounty we’ve heard on a bike. Other law enforcement agencies are also employing decoy bikes rigged with GPS transmitters to foil would be bike thieves so clearly the bad guys need to look out.
At the IMBA World Summit last week we learned about the effects of urban MTB trail networks in the bad parts of town and apparently the criminals and junkies aren’t into mountain biking. The I-5 Collonade bike park in Seattle forced junkies to find other places to get high while Ray’s Indoor MTB Park brings a whole new crowd to a previously abandoned warehouse district. No wonder thugs feel like mountain bikes are threatening their livelihood. 🙂
