> “The bikes are a form of de-escalation in themselves. If you go into any group of people, almost everyone has ridden a bike. It means you have something in common, something to talk about.”<p>I once had a stick too, doesn't make me want to chat with the guys in body armor and helmet-cameras.
> And they have disc brakes, which was the whole reason the department chose a local company – back in 2005, when they were shopping for the bikes, the big companies such as Kona couldn’t provide them.<p>I seriously doubt "the whole reason" they went local was because they couldn't find disc brakes in 2005. This is trivial to fact check, just look at Kona's catalog from 2004: <a href="http://www.konabikeworld.com/tech/catalog/catalog_2k4.htm" rel="nofollow">http://www.konabikeworld.com/tech/catalog/catalog_2k4.htm</a> Every mountain bike that's not a BMX or DJ has disk brakes.
<p><pre><code> > some observers calling [police using
> bikes] evidence of the militarisation
> of policing
</code></pre>
Oh come on. Police using armoured vehicles, maybe. Pushbikes? Sounds like my kind of cop.
This article was well written. I liked the detail they went into describing the bike setup. Going to a 1x11 gear setup is interesting.<p>The idea about mobility is very true today and in the future. Less people own cars and are restricted normally by foot themselves in protest situations.
Seems like they went a bit overkill with the bikes. They don't need an expensive fork and disc brakes, a cheap one with rim brakes would work just fine.