South Australian police the first in Australia to have bikes in 1893; used to catch early motorists exceeding 12mp/h limit

South Australian foot police, at the Torrens Parade Ground in Adelaide, still patrolling on bicycles in 1923.
Image courtesy State Library of South Australia

South Australian police were the first in Australia to introduce bicycle patrols in 1893. Bikes were used for patrols, enquiries and delivering summonses.

In the late 1910s and through to the early 1920s, they also were used to detect speeding motorists who went over the speed limit of 12 miles per hour.

Some officers initially refused to ride bikes, preferring to walk instead. Others complained about the rough roads that forced them to stop and relight the acetylene lamps on their bikes.

South Australian police in the 1890s employed a mechanic to build and maintain the bicycle fleet. From that came a distinctive police bicycle design with straight handlebars and a large seat. This model became standard issue for about 70 years.

By 1916, 100 bikes made up the police fleet for a force of 352 members. This rose to 133 in 1943 before use of bikes was phased out, except for special operations, from the 1950s.

Together with a general resurgence in cycling in South Australia, police bike patrols were brought back in 2000 to complement regular police car patrols. Bicycle patrols were used for high-visibility policing to detect and prevent crime and were deployed at special events.

More than 80 officers were qualified to ride the 30 bikes available across the four metropolitan districts and the public transport safety branch.

• Information from Police on the move : an amazing journey of horses to horsepower : reference and pictorial history book of South Australia Police transport, 1838 to 2011 by John White, as featured in South Australian police publication Blueprint.