Pedaling Policemen

Are patrol cars more effective with one policeman or two inside? The U.S. Army has taken a step that could make that question academic. It has assigned military policemen at Fort Dix, N.J., to patrol on three-speed bicycles. The early results have been dramatic: larcenies dropped 45% in the first month.

Pleased with the experiment, the MPs have decided to make their bike patrols permanent. There have been a couple of problems, however. Two-hundred-pound MPs were bending the bikes out of shape, so the base plans to buy half a dozen sturdier models with thicker tires and wider seats. And a number of MPs found at first that they were all too popular: flocks of cycling children rode after them as if the pedaling policemen were Pied Pipers.

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