34 AMERICAN POLICE BEAT: MAY 2017 Rain or shine, you’ll find Minneapolis Police Officer Mike Kirchen pedaling away. Actually, there’s a good chance that you might run into him while he’s shooting the breeze with folks on the street. That’s exactly what the Minneapolis PD has asked him to do. Mike, a member of the Community Engagement Team, personifies Chief Harteau’s “Cops out of Cars” initiative. His passion and dedication to helping people led to the creation of “Bike Cops for Kids.” “ In 2009 we built this project with an idea to use bike helmets to connect with kids in north Minneapo- lis. We received a grant from the Ciresi Foundation, support from the PEACE Foundation and found an amazing partner in Penn Cycle. Other project partners include North Memorial Medical Center, The Pohlad Foundation, and Bell sports equipment. What followed was in- credible support from the community and the greater Minneapolis bicycle com- munity. Bike Cops 4 Kids Throughout the summer folks were able to follow our project through a blog at www.bikecopsforkids. blogspot.com and the word spread. Other donors followed and the Minneapolis Foun- dation adopted us with sup- port and funding. The Feil- zer family followed the lead of an anonymous individual donor, allowing us to reach out to even more kids in 2010. The next year went so well, that we were able to start planning, writing grants and securing the approvals to make the summer the best one ever. All of our partners have signed on to assist us and we’ve added another this year. Bern Helmet has agreed to donate some of their trend- setting brimmed helmets that will likely be arriv- ing just in time for the summer. Watch our Facebook page for these helmets on the heads of the kids we are impact- ing. Our main goal is to make a special “memory stick” for the hard drive of a child as they grow up in chal- lenging situations; connect cops and kids in an unusual setting – their own yard – and use hel- mets, bike safety and bikes to do it. Safety is the add- ed bonus. We’re proud of the work we do, and we’re honored to be able to do it. The connections we make and the magical surprise we witness is something we never take for granted. We like to sharing it with you through [our] Facebook page and we hope you’ll share it with others so we can expand our reach and be able to impact even more kids in the future. – Sincerely, Officer Mike, Mark, Bill, Bill, Bob, James, Davey and Gary Kids love bikes, but they really love Officer Mike Officer Mike and his partner, Officer Dave O’Connor, spent the summer in the Cedar Riverside neighborhood of Minneapolis, riding and smiling with the local kids. “We’re helping to get the kids more mobile, teach them about paying it forward and taking pride in their com- munity,” says Officer Mike.