Residents of Altona will soon see town police cruising the streets on a new electric bike.
"Every year we put in an application to the province of Manitoba under the Criminal Property Forfeiture Fund," explains Dan Defer, Chief of Altona Police Service (APS). "That's money the province gets back from seized assets from investigations. So, this year, one of the officers, Constable Dustin Giesbrecht, put in a proposal that we should look at possibly getting an electric bike for patrolling in the park and wherever there's a large group of people."
Borderland MLA Josh Guenter was on hand to congratulate APS and acknowledge the leadership of Chief Defer.
"It's a request that the Altona Police Service felt was important. Each year we've been happy to support different pieces of kit. This year it's a bike and I think it's a great addition. [It] compliments the work that they do and will help them. Anything that we can do to support the Altona Police Service. They're an important part of our community and contribute a lot to the success of our community, of course, making our community safer."
Defer says they plan on using the e-bike to patrol large groups of people.
"Like the ball diamonds when there's big tournaments or during the festival in the park. This is going to allow the officer to patrol in the park area. One of the benefits is it gets the officer out of the car. They can move around in the park all around where everyone's congregated. It’s more of a personal contact with people."
Defers believes the e-bike will be a good public relations tool.
"Whereas people might be apprehensive in approaching the officer when they're just sitting in a patrol car, here they're out in the public and they're a little bit more approachable."
The grant amounted to $3800, with additional saddlebags and helmets bringing the total cost to about $3900.
With files from Nicole Klassen