Bike patrols offer Sudbury police a unique view of the city

This week, police officers in Sudbury and one from Sault Ste. Marie completed bicycle patrol training and fine-tuned their skills.
The bike patrol beat allows for opportunities for community engagement on the streets and gives police access to many places police vehicles can't.
"It's a great opportunity for us to get into certain areas of the city especially in our downtown core where we might not necessarily get a cruiser that will be able to access these areas for social disorder crimes that are happening in our downtown core," said Sgt. Matt Hall, of the Greater Sudbury Police Service.
Const. Kristin Zazelenchuk, the instructor for the course, took specialized training in St. Louis, Mo., put on by the International Police Mountain Bike Association.
"You get to see a lot more," Zazelenchuk said.
"We operate a lot downtown. Sudbury has got a lot of little trails leading to different areas of the city, so we are able to take those trails to get to locations a lot faster."
Const. Troy Miller is with the Sault Ste. Marie Service and has been on the bike patrol for 15 years. He came to Sudbury for the training.
"We get to connect on kind of a different level and a little more personal level when you are on the bike as opposed to driving by in a car," Miller said.
"So that is really great, to be able to stop and talk to people."
The bike patrol program runs from April to October. This fall, the service said it plans to add fat bikes and run year round.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Canada's role uncertain as NATO embarks on greatest overhaul since Cold War
As NATO prepares to embark on the greatest overhaul of the alliance’s deterrence capabilities since the Cold War at a leaders’ summit in Spain, Canada’s role in the new defence strategy remains uncertain.

NATO calls Russia its 'most significant and direct threat'
NATO declared Russia the 'most significant and direct threat' to its members' peace and security, as the military alliance met Wednesday to confront what NATO's chief called the biggest security crisis since World War II.
Most domestic flights in Canada getting cancelled, delayed: data firm
More than half of all domestic flights from some of Canada's major airports are being cancelled or delayed, recent data has shown.
Canadians who want a Nexus card will have to travel to U.S. to get it
A Nexus card is supposed to help put low-risk Canadians on the fast track when crossing the U.S. border, but at least 330,000 Canadians aren’t sure when their applications will be processed.
Some cities rethinking Canada Day parades amid rising costs, funding challenges
Canada Day celebrations are making a return after two years of scaled-down festivities because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but some Canadians hoping to catch a traditional parade may be out of luck.
2 suspects killed, 6 police officers injured in shooting at bank in Saanich, B.C.
Six police officers are in hospital with gunshot wounds and two suspects have been killed following a shooting at a bank in Saanich, B.C., on Tuesday.
Memorial service today for RCMP Const. Heidi Stevenson, killed in N.S. mass shooting
An RCMP officer who was among 22 people killed in the 2020 Nova Scotia mass shooting is being remembered today during a regimental memorial service in Halifax.
Barrie, Ont., man sentenced for masterminding landmark Ponzi scheme
The mastermind of an elaborate Ponzi scheme that cheated hundreds of people of tens of millions of dollars was sentenced Tuesday in a Barrie, Ont., courtroom. Charles Debono has been behind bars since his arrest in 2020 for his role in one of the largest Ponzi schemes in Canadian history.
Hindu man killed in filmed attack as religious tensions boil in India
Tensions were high Wednesday in the western Indian city of Udaipur, a day after police arrested two Muslim men accused of slitting a Hindu tailor's throat and posting a video of it on social media, in a brutal attack representing a dramatic escalation of communal violence in a country riven by deep religious polarization.