While people often refer to things as being “as easy as riding a bike,” the truth is riding a bike safely when patrolling downtown has a higher degree of difficulty. That’s why the Capital Crossroads and Discovery SIDs train their ambassadors using the International Police Mountain Bike Association (IPMBA) training. 

Aaron, a SID ambassador since 2015, attended a week-long class in Silver Springs, MD to become a certified instructor in 2020. Now, he's providing this essential training to ambassadors new to the SIDs.

The 24-hour course covers all varieties of bike-related topics to ensure that security ambassadors on patrol are as safe as possible. These include on-bike equipment, bike parts, clothing, hazards, vehicular cycling, crashes, and even nutrition and physical fitness. The group also works on different skill stations, like going upstairs, going downstairs, and biking in slow circles to mimic biking slowly around pedestrians. 

The SIDs have broken up the training over three Fridays in April at Franklin University. In addition, five ambassadors and the SIDs’ bike mechanic will become IPMBA certified at the end of the course.

Asked what the most fun part of the training is, Aaron shared, “We do a night ride, work on transitions from single to double file, and do role-playing of incidents like drunk and disorderly or breaking and entering.”

Having an ambassador trained as an instructor offers real cost savings for the SIDs. Prior to this, new ambassadors would be sent to do the course, which incurred a cost. Now, new ambassadors are certified more easily and cost-effectively.