IN TROUBLE? HELP MAY ONLY be a short bike ride away.

Bicycle-riding policemen will soon patrol the streets of Pasig, Mandaluyong, Marikina and San Juan with the creation of the Eastern Police District (EPD) Bike Patrol Unit, officials said.

EPD director, Chief Supt. Benjardi Mantele, led the launch of the BPU at the EPD headquarters in Pasig City Tuesday.

Mantele said an initial batch of six bicycles would be given to each police station in the four cities under the EPD?s jurisdiction. Six bicycles each would also be given to the EPD headquarters and the District Public Safety Battalion, previously known as the District Mobile Group.

He added that each station should deploy six bike patrollers on top of the policemen who conduct patrols on board mobile cars. Mantele asked the chiefs of police to submit daily reports about the bike patrollers and their accomplishments.

?Your presence should be felt positively,? he said, adding that they must strive to sustain the anticriminality drive on a long- term basis.

The program was attended by EPD officers as well as members of the Vergara and Live Strong cycling clubs.

Also present were the police chiefs of the cities under EPD: Senior Supt. Romeo Magsalos of Marikina, Senior Supt. Jessie Cardona of Pasig, Senior Supt. Carlos de Sagun of Mandaluyong and Senior Supt. Procopio Lipana of San Juan.

Venancio Tolentino, director for operations of the nongovernmental organization Law Enforcement Hotline Movement Inc., donated 10 bikes to the EPD and promised an additional 10 more.

Tolentino said bicycles, aside from being cheap, would be a good form of exercise for police officers as well as a convenient mode of transport when catching criminals, especially during heavy traffic.