Pedal-Powered Policing Rolls Into Airlie Beach

Police Officers are now patrolling Airlie Beach by bicycle, on sleek E-bikes that give them an all-access-pass to previously hard-to reach locations.

Morning strollers may see the patrols along the Bicentennial Boardwalk between Airlie Beach and Cannonvale, as will parents at school drop-off and revellers at events like the Airlie Beach Music Festival.

The Queensland Police cycling initiative was adopted in the Whitsundays to increase community patrol, whilst making it easier to police other e-bike and e-scooter users, and allowing fast response to areas with no vehicle access, like the boardwalk.

The e-bikes arrived in December and have been adopted readily by officers.

“The whole idea is for community safety, to ensure those areas that were untouched before are now getting policed.” said Senior Constable Jessica Leech

“There are 1000s of people using the boardwalk daily, so we want to ensure that they're getting looked after along the way.”

Senior Sergeant Anthony Moynihan also highlighted the need to confront E-scooter issues in Queensland.

“It's an opportunity for us to interact with people that are utilising e-scooters and e-bikes and just have conversations around safety and things like that with them.”

Following several e-scooter related injuries in Airlie Beach, the police are reinforcing the need for helmets, and safe-transit on the boardwalk especially. Residents are asked to keep respectful distance and pace around pedestrians to ensure no further mishaps.

The patrols will be conducted in partnership with the businesses along the waterfront, who rely on footfall from the boardwalk and want to ensure safe passage for their customers.

1- Senior Sergeant Anthony Moynihan and Senior Constable Rachel Leech ready to patrol.

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