Cops patrolling north Basingstoke have been given a set of bicycles by a housing trust.
Slough-based L&Q Housing Trust donated £2,920 to local bobbies to buy four £600 Cube Acid mountain bikes for officers from the Norden safer neighbourhoods team.
Norden PC Richard Heard welcomed the team’s new machines, and said bikes were seen as a better way to patrol neighbourhoods.
He said: “The bikes get such heavy use, we literally ride them on every single patrol duty day - up and down the alleyways, open spaces, and can get into places that a vehicle can’t get to.
“They help us engage with the community, we have young people coming up and talking to us which helps break down barriers - it is less threatening and authoritiarian.”
The housing trust owns more than 100 homes in Oakridge, with properties dotted around Gower Close, Scotney Road, and Arlott Drive. Neighbourhood investment officer for L&Q, Aisha Chaudhry, said that the bikes were money well spent.
“When it came to investing in the area and making it safer we thought it was a brilliant initative,” she said. “To put some money towards the safer neighbourhood team benefits the community and our residents.”
