The hot spring news is that over in Copenhagen, they’ve just got their first bicycle police unit (I know – talk about ironic!)
The photos of bicycle police posted on Copenhagenize.com got me wondering what bicycle police look like all over the world . . . so I did a trawl through Flickr’s Creative Commons licensed material to see what I could find . . .
Let’s start close to home, here in the UK:
London police - gotta love the paint job on those bikes!
Policeman on a bicycle, Cardiff City Centre. You could do with some air in that back tyre, mate!
Cycle Cops in Glasgow. I wonder if we're looking at their backs because they're ugly or shy?
Police in York practicing their urban pursuit skills. No, they're not riding down the steps 'cos it's fun. Oh, no, indeed not. This is serious police training!
Traditional British Bobby on a bike. In this case, it's Flickr user, Robin Hutton, outside his house in about 1980. Nice bike - and it seems to be fully kitted; is that some sort of radio on the rack?
Over on Europe’s mainland:
Bicycle police in Paris. The bikes seems to be official issue, but minimally equipped - these are basically regular police who've been put on bikes, with no other 'special' equipment other than helmets.
Mounted police in Amsterdam - the first we've seen without helmets.
In Helsinki: "These guys not only broke the rule of "No riding a bicycle" inside the station, but they raced each other and stopped with a showoff-slide. Then they were cool enough to pose for a photo even though I didn't ask them. Too bad it's a bit blurry."
Over in the USA:
Bicycle Police on Waikiki Beach. How cool do these guys look. I wonder if they'll ever remake Hawaii-50, but with bike police?
San Francisco. I'm probably showing my age here, but the guy on the right . . . wasn't he in The Village People?
San Jose. Police on bikes are happy police - just look at that smile on the guy on the left!
Philadelphia police. I'm guessing that the one in the background is a recent recruit to the bicycle unit.
Washington DC. Police preparing to patrol an Amnesty International rally. As you can see, bikes aren't just for warm weather!
Another one from Washington DC. I love this one - it's begging for a speech bubble or two!
Chicago - the weather's cold, and the police are in hi-viz. This picture shows the great advantage of bicycle police in town. While they have the speed to get most places as quick as driving, they're also more obviously people than if they were inside a patrol car.
Portland. There's something of the Critical Mass about this photo. I challenge any driver to have claimed not to have seen them!
In Australia & Asia:
In Perth. Am I too much of a bike geek to notice that the bike in the front seems to have road tyres, while the background one has knobbly off-road ones?
Sydney. there's something very relaxed about this trio.
Tokyo, 1983. How very cool does this seem in comparison though? Positively suave!
Do The Right Thing 
LMAO @ “recent recruit”.
Quite a neat collection you gathered, Karl.
Saw the Copenhagen post — and it was ironic — given that we have bike officers here in Vermont. Nice job with gathering these shots. Dick
Ah….York. And that’s my old college! I used to live about 10m from where that one was taken. Didn’t know they rented it out for Police Bike Training during the summer. Nice!
This site has been listing which UK forces are using which bikes for around the last 3 years
Cool collection. I’m likely to be in Japan in summer so I’ll look to see if any police use bikes. I don’t recall seeing any.
Unfortunately I may get arrested if the catch me taking a picture so it may be a description…