Evening star., 1902-08-21
BICYCLE POLICEMEN
PERFORM INVALUABLE WORK IN
THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.
Increase in Number of Bike Corps and
the Varied Kind of Duties
They Discharge.

"As the bike cops are playing havoc with
luckless bIkers who forget that Pennsylva-
MIA avenue is a double street. much TO the
riders surprise and chagrin, on a charge of
wheeling on the wrong side of the street
a word OF caution to the wheelmen and re-
gardng the men who take them in may be
apropos,' remarked a police official this
morning
Half a dozen arrests for this violation
of the city ordinance were made in a single
afternoon a few days ago. and wheelmen
and the drivers of vehicles should remember
that in going toward the Capitol they must
not ride drive close to the car track, but
keep over to the south side Of the street.
In coming up toward the treasury building
also keep away from the car track, and
ride on the right or north side of the street.
Wheelmen especially become careless, but
there are several bicycle policemen stationed
On Pennsylvania avenue, from the Peace
monument to the treasury building. who
are on the watch for the careless riders and
drivers In fact. this ordinance is being
enforced by the police all over the city, and
riders and drivers should bear this fact in
mind if they wish to escape a fine or the
forfeiture of collateral
1T was little supposed a few years ago
when a handful of police were mounted on
wheels that by this time the bike cops
would number over one-twelfth of the en-
tire force. In the police appropriation for
the present fiscal year allowance was made
lpT SlAlN StTStdHIS anu pTlNdItS mounted
on bicycles. and out Of this appropriation
it has been possible TO largely increase the
force this summer.
1.-The bicycle police have been found to
be invaluable addition TO the force, the
streets OF Washington being particularly
adapted for fast wheeling and for the fast
driving both of horse vehicles and autOmo-
biles- SCOrChers and reckless drivers Of
vehicles and automobiles have sport with
the unmounted patroImen on the sidewalks.
but 1t IS the bike cops who ultimately have
sport with these reckless individuals, and
the safety Of the general public Is corre-
spondingly increased.
THE bicycle police are found to be Of
great service In hurry calls. and In hun
dred ways prove their efficiency owing to
their ability to cover a large territory
quickly. They have banished the soorcher
from our streets as compared with a few
years ago, and when they curb the impetu-
ostty Of the reckless automObilist the pub
lie will rise and call them thrice blessed.
The people Of Washington were heartily
disgusted last year by the reckless drivers
of high-pOwer motor machines, and now
that the bicycle force has been so much
increased It is universally hoped that the
almost continuous complaints of last year
against the automobilists who think they
own the streets will be pleasantly absent
when they return to town and skim over
the streets and around the corners as II
they were the only persons alive.
bicycle policemen receive no extra regu-
lar pay, but are allowed $50 a year. out of
which they must maintain their own
wheels bike cop may go for couple Of
seasons without suffering more than a
puncture, and again may have two or three
wheels smashed in collisions and runaways
In a summer, the loss being his.
with the police mounted on horses num-
berinS ffty-one, including four neutenants
and several sergeants. and the sixty men
on bicycles, one-sixth of the entire police
force of Washington Is mounted as contra
distinguished from foot policemen. The
mounted men do excellent service in the
suburbs and the outlying portions OF the
District, and they are familiar objects on
their fine horses patrolling the ntersecting
roads of the District. They provide their
own horses. and usually are very proud of
their mounts. Many of our mounted police
have two horses. They are allowed by law
S24oeach year for the maintenance of their
horses. These men have put stop to the
fast and reckless driving on the Conduit
road and other good driving stretches Of
roadway near the city which was once
such a menace to those who do not believe
In this kind of pastime off a speedway or
race track, and, taken altogether, consti-
tute a fine body of men.
The mounted police also form feature
OF all professions and parades in the city
and are generally admired, Taken as an
entirety, the BICYCLE corps and the mounted
officers make q splendid showing and are
a brave and fearless lot Of athletic men,
In fact, II is one of the sights of the city to
see a big bike cop weighing 175 pounds
and some weigh mOre-mOunted on a little
twenty-pound wheel. flying at breakneck
speed over the smooth asphalt after some
offender against the fast-driving ordinance
or a mounted officer urging his willing
horse at full gait after a runaway in the
suburbs"