COVINGTON, LA — Well, it’s not exactly a Kojak light, but the Covington Police Department hopes that their newly re-striped bicycles will be easier for the public to spot them.

It’s been almost exactly two years since the department got back on bicycles to patrol areas of the city — for the first time in about a decade.   In fact, the department kept the bicycles in storage over the years before breaking them out for use again in 2018.

Now, CPD wants to make sure the public recognizes the bikes.  “…often, members of the community had no idea the bikes were actually police bicycles,” the department said in a social media post.

With the help of Gallardo Signs and Printing, the police bikes no longer have the loud, green Trek logos that came from the manufacturer.  Instead, they’re clearly marked ‘Police’.

Covington police use the bikes to patrol the downtown area as well as the Tammany Trace and any number of festivals throughout the year.  Also, with the growing popularity of bikesharing programs — which Saint Tammany has considered trying in the past — there’s certainly going to be more bicycles on the streets.