BURBANK : Local Police Roll Out Bicycle Patrols

For the two men riding bicycles in Burbank on Friday, the white tennis shirts and black shorts might have helped in the 90-degree heat.

But the bulletproof vests did not.

The two were Burbank Police Officers John Dilibert and Doug Brown, and they kicked off the city’s new bicycle patrol downtown.

The Burbank Police Department began the program to achieve a higher profile, to gain an advantage in negotiating streets with heavy summer traffic, and to help catch parking garage criminals.

“Our job is to stop a lot of the auto thefts,� said Dilibert, who normally patrols by foot. The bike patrols will occur Friday and Saturday nights throughout the summer.

People do take a second look at the pair, and some like to ask questions, the officers said.

“Some people really aren’t sure that we’re the police yet,� Dilibert said.

“We’ve had several people flag us down,� Brown said.

Of 17 officers who applied for the bike-patrol duty, four were selected. The bicycles were Dilibert’s idea.

The officers went through 40 hours of training from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, learning pursuits, high-speed dismounts, and how to ride stairs.