Officers in Gateshead are taking to their bikes to patrol the town centre and Quayside areas.

The bike patrols have been introduced to enable officers to cover a wider area without using police vehicles and help do their bit for the environment.

The 24-gear bikes have been specially designed for patrol purposes and are made with lightweight alloy and are branded with the Northumbria Police livery.

Neighbourhood Beat Manager, PC Ian Copeland, and CSO Richard Kemp are introducing bike patrols to their beat which covers areas from the town centre, Quayside and parts of Bensham.

PC Copeland said: “We hope that introducing bike patrols to Gateshead will help officers cover a larger area and enable us to attend a near-by incident quicker than if on foot patrol.

“Using the police bikes is a more environmentally efficient way of patrolling the local community and will help free up our police vehicles.

“We currently cover approximately two-three miles a day on foot patrols. We aim to increase this to a ten mile radius on a daily basis using the bikes to further ensure a substantial police presence throughout the central Gateshead area.

“We are also keen to know how the initiative is received by members of the public and urge people to approach us to tell us what they think of the bike patrols.”

CSO Richard Kemp said: “We have been specially trained on how to effectively patrol the beat on the bikes. It has given us the required skill and technique to safely cycle in busy or congested pedestrian areas and how to best utilise the bike for different geographical conditions i.e. steep terrain and weather conditions.

Acting Inspector Karl Wilson of the Central Neighbourhood Policing Team added: “The officers have taken their own initiative to bring bike patrols to the streets of Gateshead.

“It will help benefit the community in a manner of ways including response time to local incidents and increase police visibility to wider areas.”