Police bike patrol hits the road, plans to target Weed & amp; Seed area

FARRELL, Pa. --The Southwest Mercer County Regional Police bicycle patrol has only been on the street twice, but it's making a name for itself.
Police Chief Riley Smoot told the department's police commission Tuesday that officers in the patrol stopped two motor vehicles for traffic violations, issuing two citations during a four-hour patrol period one week ago today.
The patrol also was out Halloween, providing police visibility across a wider-than-normal area of the city, Smoot said. The patrol is being run in four-hour blocks.
The department used an $8,000 grant from the city to create the patrol, buying and equipping two bicycles and training and outfitting four police officers to ride them.
The patrols will target the Farrell Weed & amp; Seed area from Indiana Avenue to Broadway on the city's north side.
The unit will also be used at football games and other public events, Smoot said.
The department also serves Wheatland, West Middlesex and Shenango Township, but the bicycle patrols will be concentrated in Farrell, which came up with the money to create the unit.
Farrell officials, concerned about drug trafficking and other illegal activity in the Idaho Street area, asked Smoot what they could do to help combat that crime, and Smoot suggested creation of the bicycle unit, which is less obtrusive and can operate in much tighter areas than the traditional patrol car.