Originally Posted by
burnthesheep
About the 2nd post got it, mobile radio that can keep a visual on a perp and get backup.
It's about increasing the radius of a walking police "beat" with the bike as well.
I will totally disagree about the whole chase thing. Even if you could out sprint someone on flats and 30 pounds of gear and heavier bike, what are you going to do when you catch them? Crash yourself at 20mph while trying to crash them out? You know what it's like as an adult to crash any bike on any surface over 20mph?
It's about staying in range to get radio help or get close enough to finish a chase on foot.
The rest is movie theatrics.
I could imagine the mtb being more comfortable for a beat on the bike.
Really, the number of chases that police get into, at least in Canada, is very low. We're talking, maybe once a year on foot, and pretty much never in a car.
Having said that, what you say is generally correct, follow and keep radioing in the person's position. However, they could also at some point (likely after the person they are chasing is tired) get off their bike and chase on foot.