You may have spotted the Calgary Police Service’s bike unit riding around downtown, and believe it or not, their officers keep peddling through our city’s coldest days.
Sgt. Scott Neilson leads one of the two CPS mountain bike patrol units and says officers are patrolling on bikes 365 days a year.
“People are not going to believe that we’re out riding on bikes,” Neilson said.
Their goal is to help make downtown safer by addressing social disorder in the city’s core.
“That can mean anything from drinking, fighting — anything where basically the comfort of others that live and work down here are affected by that,” Neilson said.
The team finds there is a big advantage to working on two wheels rather than four in that area.
“What we’ve found is we have the ability to kind of sneak up on somebody that doesn’t generally see us coming,” Neilson said.
He also mentioned that there’s more positive interaction with the public while officers are riding around.
Their bikes have special tires to help with traction on snow and officers stay warm by covering up as much exposed skin as possible, wearing goggles and layering up.
Fires and crashes don’t stop happening during deep freezes and police officers aren’t the only emergency workers needing to juggle personal and public safety.
“First responders and emergency services are outside on a regular basis,” said Calgary EMS spokesperson Stuart Brideaux.
Brideaux said the biggest concern for emergency workers is the safety of their patient, wanting to keep them as warm and comfortable as possible.
“We have to make some accommodations for moving patients very quickly — although still safely — from whatever environment they are into the back of an ambulance.”
With temperatures and wind chills expected to dip down to -40 this week, officials are warning everyone that frostbite can occur in as little as 10 minutes.
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