Slick Beaverton bike patrol van and trailer gets national award

(Photos: Beaverton Police Dept.)

The City of Beaverton Police Department is proud of their bike patrol unit and they’re not afraid to show it off. The BPD announced last week that the van and trailer that houses their Bicycle Patrol Unit won second place in the 2012 Law and Order Magazine Police Vehicle Design Contest.

The Ford panel van and accompanying trailer (which carries 18-20 bikes) features a custom paint job with the words “Beaverton Police Mountain Bike Team” and a large silhouette of a rider on the side.

“The judges commented that the vehicle shows a strong community support with area businesses, vendors and sponsors. They especially liked the bike graphics on the side of the van,” reads a BPD press release.

Here are a few more photos…

Go Beaverton PD! That thing looks awesome!

Jonathan Maus (Publisher/Editor)

Jonathan Maus (Publisher/Editor)

Founder of BikePortland (in 2005). Father of three. North Portlander. Basketball lover. Car owner and driver. If you have questions or feedback about this site or my work, feel free to contact me at @jonathan_maus on Twitter, via email at maus.jonathan@gmail.com, or phone/text at 503-706-8804. Also, if you read and appreciate this site, please become a supporter.

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Scott
Scott
11 years ago

This is a level 30 bummer. It’s like Tapout making police uniforms.

Dan
Dan
11 years ago

Now they just have to come out & race some short track!

Rol
Rol
11 years ago

That thing is HOTT

Dan
Dan
11 years ago
Reply to  Rol

The department is sending a message: B-Po is DTH.

9watts
9watts
11 years ago

I’m going to show my ignorance, but what are the van and trailer for?
Is this perhaps how they have fun on the weekend?
The link explains the bike patrol unit, but I thought the point of the unit was *not to be in a car/van* but to be patrolling the streets by bike.

Adams Carroll (News Intern)
Reply to  9watts

the unit works a lot of events… And the trailer/van carries the bikes/officers to those events.

Jeff P
Jeff P
11 years ago

Indeed – keeping with the beaverton tradition of using your car to cart your bike somewhere to ride for a 1/2-mile and then claiming you ride you “rode your bike”. Don’t forget to right hook someone who actually rides their bike for a purpose on the way.

Apologies for non-constructive comment.

Spiffy
11 years ago

that trailer is awesome!

Spiffy
11 years ago

also, it should be noted that they took 2nd place in the “BEST SUPPORT VEHICLE, COMMAND POST, CSI VEHICLE” category… there were a lot of categories…

resopmok
resopmok
11 years ago

I am curious if anyone knows why cops ride mountain bikes? And also is there a standard size issued, or does each cop get his/her own? It would just seem to me that in the city, and in most places in the suburbs a road bike would be better suited to the generally paved surfaces.

Sunny
Sunny
11 years ago
Reply to  resopmok

A paved road is not a consideration when a criminal is trying to get away. A radio is faster anyway.

PomPilot
PomPilot
11 years ago
Reply to  Sunny

Not to mention, that techniques advocated by the International Police Mountain Bike Association (http://www.ipmba.org/), are better suited to a 26-inch wheeled mountain bike. Bike officers (law enforcement and EMS) are trained to go cross-country when necessary, and not be confined to using a paved roadway.

Psyfalcon
Psyfalcon
11 years ago
Reply to  resopmok

Fairly upright, strong for 250lbs of officer and equipment, designed for being dropped and rode off curbs. Low gearing for the sidewalk rides and big events.

Only real downside is weight which I bet seems pretty light when they’re already carrying radios, weapons, and ballistic vests.

Ethan
11 years ago

Meanwhile, in the nations “Bike Capitol”, the police are using ATVs on bike trails and neglecting to use any bicycles when doing targeted enforcement of cyclists violation hotspots. Their social media person seems savvy, the actual operations people . . . not so much.

Travis Fulton
Travis Fulton
11 years ago

I don’t know, that logotype sure looks like a news channel to me. The gun sticking off the silhouette is a nice touch though.

Sunny
Sunny
11 years ago
Reply to  Travis Fulton

I would have prefer one arm firing while jumping.

Nathan
Nathan
11 years ago
Reply to  Travis Fulton

Ha! I hadn’t realized what that was. Here I was thinking it was their flagging handkerchief.

Lynne F
Lynne F
11 years ago

They were at Bike Beaverton this past Sunday, running a bike rodeo for the kids, and then participating in the actual ride.

Sunny
Sunny
11 years ago
Reply to  Lynne F

That’s awful. They shouldn’t be rodeoing the kids. They’re KIDS!

karl d
karl d
11 years ago

I believe this police unit would be more effective, quicker to get to a location, and be able to stay there longer than a mounted patrol unit. At a fraction of the price.

Quentin
Quentin
11 years ago

I’m having a hard time grasping why there is even a contest for this in the first place.

Jeff P
Jeff P
11 years ago
Reply to  Quentin

Especially when it may likely be taxpayer monies going to pay for the decorative wrap – but I have no proof of that – why not pay for real equipment or real enforcement….sigh…I know, I know – perception and visibility = street cred.

Scott
Scott
11 years ago
Reply to  Quentin

Cops suck, so the only place they can get kudos is from other cops. Bam. Dumbest cop van contest.

I wonder if there are awards for things like “Most Tazings” and a DFL type award for “Most Incorrectly Executed No Knock Warrants Resulting in Accidental Death Of the Resident”?

Jrdpdx
Jrdpdx
11 years ago

Quentin, it’s a big world with lots of different people and different ideas.

Beaverton Resident
Beaverton Resident
11 years ago

They need the van because riding a bicycle in Beaverton is scary.

Rick Hamell
11 years ago

They occasionally do traffic enforcement in Beaverton too. My most direct interaction with them was as part of a Historic Beaverton Walking Tour. They ran interference and blocked traffic for a fairly large group of people who were being led around through the Central Beaverton neighborhood.

Quadrant
Quadrant
11 years ago

Aesthetically, the bike graphic might have missed the mark. The van’s rear wheel and the bike’s could’ve been melded into one. Amusing, beefy, manly, adult, provocative. The balance of the graphics could’ve been re-deployed appropriately, i.e., pantographed down in size. Critics, we’re naught else than dogs in search of hydrants.

Redhippie
Redhippie
11 years ago

I think it looks like the A-team van. “I pitty the fool”.

toddistic
toddistic
11 years ago

What a fine use of tax payer dollars. Thank goodness I don’t live in Beavertron.

Joe Adamski
Joe Adamski
11 years ago

I feel a little better about them investing in bike gear than high powered weaponry and surveillance equipment. But only a little.

PDXOR
PDXOR
11 years ago

It pains me to see that the city of Beaverton has enough money for crap like this! Not to mention the fact that they paved half of this entire town when all the roads seemed just FINE to me. And yet our middle school lost a half dozen teachers and the classes sizes are now at 50+. Even pro cyclists don’e have trailers this nice!

Does it matter!
Does it matter!
11 years ago

What a waste of tax dollars! And they are proud to show it off. What about putting money back into our kids/education to prevent the need for more police in the future? Humm…

JohnO
11 years ago

I’m a Beaverton resident, and can’t help but notice in the midst of the worst recession since the 1930s, the Beaverton PD has money for vanity plates on their community relations vehicles, and all sorts of other fancy toys, like this custom-painted van, trailer, and fleet of bikes. I like that they have a bike patrol; but our schools are starving for money, and they clearly have too much.

q`Tzal
q`Tzal
9 years ago

Test