March 28, 2024

NPD’s electric motorcycle makes an impact

Bike patrols hard to reach places

The Newton Police Department has had its electric motorcycle for about three years now after receiving an Alliant Energy Bright Ideas grant to fund the purchase of the bike and training of the officers who would be operating it.

The Newton Daily News previously reported the bike would be a part of a pilot project with Alliant Energy to weigh the benefits of using an electric vehicle. The bike has been saving money and energy as opposed to a traditional motorcyle.

“It has been deployed every summer or when the weather is nice,” Newton Police Chief Rob Burdess said.

Burdess said the benefits from the bike have been two-fold, not just because it makes getting to those hard to reach places easier but also how the community can interact with officers.

“We have found that it has been a nice tool, first off for patrol purposes but also community engagement. People are pretty interested in it and it allows us to interact with folks where there is not that barrier of a car door,” Burdess said.

With the bike serving a dual purpose, the NPD has seen those benefits with traffic enforcement and being able to patrol in places squad cars can’t safely traverse or fit into. The benefits included a decrease in crime in the areas where squad cars couldn’t go.

“In its first year, we really hammered the parks really hard getting into areas where we couldn’t before so we saw a reduction in the first year’s calls and crimes in the parks,” Burdess said.

There is a potential to expand the program to include more bikes, Burdess said, but the idea isn’t feasible for the police department to do because of issues like transporting prisoners or conducting operations on the interstate.

“With the staffing we have and kind of our philosophy on what we are using this (electric bike) for I don’t see that we are going to be expanding anytime soon,” Burdess said.

Contact Dustin Teays at 641-792-3121 ext. 6533 or dteays@newtondailynews.com