I read this article on jsonline.com this morning…

Bicycle cop busts robbery suspects
Milwaukee Police Officer Manny Molina spotted a purple Toyota at noon Sunday and recalled a similar car was being sought in connection with an armed robbery from the night before.

The fact that Molina was on a bike didn’t stop him.

The 11-year veteran called for back-up and pedaled over to the car, which was stopped. The men inside were talking with a woman Molina said was a prostitute.

Molina said he spotted a crack pipe and the driver matched the robber’s description. Molina drew his Taser stun gun and ordered the suspects out. The car was boxed in by traffic and the Taser got their attention, Molina said. They got out.

Molina searched the car and found knives, drugs and a load of allegedly stolen goods, including jewelry. He arrested two men inside the car. The items were connected to at least three crimes: the robbery in Milwaukee and burglaries in Caledonia and Cudahy, Molina said.

Molina, 42, said there are certain situations where he will stop a car using his bike. Sunday was one of those times.

“In this certain situation, I have to at least try,” he said in an interview today. “The circumstances worked in my favor. I caught them completely by surprise.”

Now, I see bicycle cops all the time and I’m not really sure what they do besides be a “presence” in whatever area they were in. I didn’t know they could actually “pull someone over.” It’s not like he has a flashing light that he straps to his head and flicks on when he wants to pull over a car. This cop has some guts to pull over a car with a taser gun, especially when they find out later that they had knives and things like that. Sounds like they picked off a few bad guys though, so definate props to the cop on the bike. Maybe that should be Milwaukee’s new way of catching people–it seems to work.