| Attending a emergency cyclists
training course are ambulance and police personnel from around the UK,
including Tees, East and North Yorks Ambulance, London Ambulance, North
Yorks Police, South Wales Police, Northumbria Police and Kansas Police
Department (USA). The attendees are (from left to right) Gerard Morgan,
Monte May (instructor), Kevin Rogerson, Ian McCloud, Ben Whiteway, Russ
Harper, Steve Harvey, Sean Clarke, Claire Tinker and Mark Inman. |
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| The police and ambulance cyclists listen in
to the instructor's instructions, while trying to keep warm on an icy
winter's afternoon. |
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| As part of the training, the cyclists take
it in turn to make emergency stops when Kansas police officer Monte May
instructs them. |
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| Getting more weight over the rear wheel can
reduce the chance of skidding when braking, as demonstrated by this police
officer. |
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| All the way from Kansas in the United
States to North Yorkshire is this minimally marked police mountain bike. |
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| Over the days the course moves to different
locations. Here the team is in a cordoned off multi-storey car park for maneuvering
exercises. |
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| An artistic look at a line of emergency cyclists
practicing weaving between obstacles at speed. |
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| A final look at the team receiving
instructions on how to navigate the forest of police cones used. |
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|
York police's community cycle unit expanded on 6 October 2003. Here are the
officers at a training day, (from left to right) Sergeant Nigel Tottie, PC Helen Williams, PC Colin Sutherland, PC Ben Whiteway, PC Russ Harper, PC Steve James, Acting
Sergeant Jo Smith, PC John Hebblethwaite and PC Steve Harvey. |
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| Each officer is equipped with
their own personal bike and cycle-specific police uniform. The bikes are all
fitted with blue lights, white lights and a siren alongside a rack-top bag
for equipment. |
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| PC Helen Williams descends some
steep concrete steps as part of the cycle control training. |
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| The cycling police officers are
trained to cycle down stairs so they can continue to follow suspects or
attend an emergency scene sooner. This photograph shows PC Steve Harvey
racing down steps as if it was a smooth slope. |
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| The police officers of York's
Community Cycle Unit are joined by the 4 ambulance service emergency
cyclists that they will work alongside in York and the surrounding areas. |
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| Two of the cycle unit officers use
their white lights, blue flashing lights and sirens to warm the public of
their presence as they simulate an emergency response. |
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| North Yorkshire
Police Sergeant Nigel Tottie is concentrating on carrying out slow-speed
tight turns around road cones. This is part of a demonstration of advanced
cycling skills around an obstacle course as part of a national emergency
service cyclist's seminar. |
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| Another police
officer mounts a see-saw at speed at another part of the course. |
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| TENYAS paramedic
Paul Brown carefully negotiates a pile of wooden pallets. |
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| Many of the
emergency cyclists that attended this seminar brought their bikes along to
compare and contrast models and equipment. This example is used by West
Midlands Police. It has a high-visibility cover for the bag, a white and a
blue light and siren. |
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| This white cycle
is used by the City of London Police. The inset shows a close up view of the
emergency warning equipment. Two white lights can be used at night, or the
blue covers lowered to show blue light for emergency responses. The siren is
mounted below these lights. |
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| This Gazelle
police bike is one of many used in Selby and York for community police
officers. Small yellow panniers on both sides are marked 'police'. It has no
blue lights or siren. |
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| This police cycle
is not strictly an UK emergency vehicle, but was in the UK! It is one of the
cycles used by San Antonio Police Department in Texas, USA. It has blue and
red flashing lights, a bell and a siren. Interestingly, American cycles have
the brakes the opposite way around to UK cycles. |
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| The rider of the
above cycle is Officer TJ Richardson. He can be seen here talking about
emergency response cycling at the cycling seminar. Two Northumbria Police
officers listen intently. |
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| Officer TJ
Richardson is also the president of IPMBA, the International Police Mountain
Biking Association. He travels the globe giving lectures and practical
exercises in using cycles for police work, drawing on the experiences of
police officers worldwide. Here he is discussing such matters with North
Yorkshire Police's Chief Constable Della Cannings. |
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| The very first
emergency cyclist's seminar in the UK was very well attended. This is almost
all of the participants posing amongst their cycles. Paramedics Tom Lynch
(LAS), Mark Inman and Paul Brown (TENYAS) attended, along with Glen Towers (WYMAS).
Officer TJ Richardson (SAPD, Texas), Nigel Tottie and Steve Harvey (North
Yorks.) are in the foreground. Also present are police officers from
Northumbria police, West Midlands Police and other constabularies. Two
members of HM Coastguard can also be seen in the centre of the back row.
They have been trialing the use of cycles to access remote costal areas by
path. |
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| A cycling police constable compares his
bike to a traffic constable's Honda ST1100 bike. |
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| An Australian police officer joined York's cycling police
officers on 10 and 11 June 2003. He was touring the cycle police officers
of the world, discussing best practice and sharing ideas. From left to right is Sgt. Nigel
Tottie, Senior Constable Mick Shaw and PC Steve Harvey. |
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