Even their own dispatchers didn't take them seriously at first.
Some people still giggle at the sight of cops wearing shorts.
But since it began in November, the bike patrol has made friends among downtown merchants and has made more than 30 arrests. The bike police no longer are the Rodney Dangerfields of the force. The Police Department plans to put four more officers on bikes, probably next month, and eight officers have applied for the jobs, according to Deputy Chief Charles Hannon. Webster Square is a likely area for the new patrol. There are 735 bike patrols in the United States known to the International Police Mountain Biking Association , and the organization believes more than 1,000 exist, according to manager Jennifer Horan.