Kyiv, Ukraine-based Delfast pushed e-bikes to the limit with its Top 2.0 and is now extending its lineup with a new model designed to meet the needs of law enforcement. The new Delfast TopCop e-bike was recently shipped off to the Brevard Police Department in North Carolina to give law enforcement officers there a chance to learn about, experience, and trial the TopCop in real world applications.
The Delfast TopCop. Image courtesy: Delfast
From the sound of things, early testing is going well and the department already sees many benefits of upgrading their officers to the platform. They started things off with a round of training given by two early adopter police officers. The training resulted in a lot of interest from officers across the department to put the TopCop e-bike into use in day to day enforcement work. “I now have about half of my patrol officers asking to be bike trained so they can ride this bike on duty. We are fans,” J. Phil Harris, Chief of Police in Brevard said.
Officers specifically noted that the TopCop’s silent electric motor made it much easier for them to approach a situation without being noticed. That represents a tangible benefit in the life and death situations police work occasionally entails.
The powerful electric motor on the rear hub of the TopCop makes it far more functional that simply putting police officers on traditional bicycles. “I believe we could utilize the bikes in a number of different ways that we can’t necessarily do on a traditional patrol bike,” Brevard Police Officer Ronnie said. Traditional bikes require all the effort to come from the human operator, potentially draining physical reserves that might be needed when arriving on the scene. The TopCop allows officers to choose if they want to power the bike or leverage its electric motor.
Image courtesy: Delfast
Officer Ronnie encountered a situation where this particular benefit came into play in his early testing of the TopCop. “I was on Ecusta Rd. when a domestic violence call came out on Gallimore Rd. I road the bike the entire way which is approximately 4.3 miles and I arrived shortly after the units that were responding in their patrol vehicles. I was also not out of breath,” he said.
The initial experience of the Brevard Police Department with the Delfast TopCop is encouraging as local police departments look to leverage modern transportation technologies to improve the quality of service provided, and at a lower cost. It’s no doubt many departments could find a home for the Delfast TopCop somewhere between officers on traditional bicycles and motorcycles. Offsetting just a few motorcycles with TopCops could not only save departments serious capital cost up front, but lower fuel and maintenance expenses over the life of the fleet. It’s compelling.
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