Sgt. Jayme Green has patrolled many neighborhoods during his 17 years in law enforcement. Currently, he commands the five-member Topeka Police Department Bicycle Unit.

"I have four guys that work for me. … They are all really pro-active guys and go-getter types … we work well together," he said.

Green also is a singer-guitarist who recorded "Sacrifice," a tribute to fallen officers that he performed on the steps of the Capitol in Washington, D.C., during National Police Week in 2015. He was a member of Invictus, a local rock band, in 2011.

Green, who originally hailed from Bedford, Iowa, and earned a bachelor’s degree in history from Iowa State University, recently talked about his experiences with the bicycle unit.

Q: How long have you been a bicycle police officer?

Green: I have been involved with the bicycle unit for over 10 years.

Q: Do you enjoy your work?

Green: I do. I’ve been in law enforcement for 17 years now. I’ve been with TPD since 2003. I can’t imagine doing anything else full time.

Q: What parts of Topeka do you patrol?

Green: Central Topeka, East Topeka and North Topeka. Those are the three areas that we go to most often because they’re easy to get to on a bicycle. We do go southeast, and we do go farther west and even southwest. But when you (go) southeast and southwest, you got a lot of hills and long stretches. It also takes longer just to get there, so we’re spending a majority of our shift just getting to where we (need to) go.

We do have cars assigned to the unit. We can throw our bikes on the cars to transport on a bike rack to a different part of town. But for the most part, we just ride (to the location), because we enjoy riding.

Q: When do you ride your bicycle? What is your shift?

Green: We work generally Monday through Friday, 10 in the morning to 6 p.m. Now that changes if we have weekend events (such as runs, parades or festivals). … Part of being in the bike unit is being flexible and agreeing to change your hours for special events.

Q: Do your legs get sore?

Green: Sure, sometimes. … Yeah, I mean your whole body can get sore. It’s not necessarily the physical activity. It’s the temperature fluctuations, because we ride all year round, 365 days a year, unless the streets are unsafe. If there’s ice or snow on the streets, if there’s lightning in the sky, if it’s a driving rain … we won’t ride in that. (Green said the bicycle unit officers also don’t ride when the temperatures are very cold or extremely hot.).

Q: Do people come out and talk to you? Is it a good tool to touch base with the community?

Green: Yeah, we’re very approachable on bicycles … so people come and talk to us all the time. We get little kids that just want to touch our bikes and say hello, to people that aren’t real happy with something and think that they need to tell somebody. That really adds to what we do everyday.

Q: Do they ever bring you something to drink?

Green: When it’s hot, people bring us bottles of water all the time. Actually, we all carry two water bottles that we keep filled. We have our water spots throughout town that we know we can go. We can go to the hospitals, or the library, Kwik Shops, restaurants. The people in Topeka are great.

Q: Do you ride a bicycle when you’re off-duty?

Green: Not as much as I did before I rode one for work. … I have a mountain bike and a road bike, and I like to ride trails. But because I ride, ‘cause that’s what I do for work, it’s not as much fun to go out and ride.

Q: How do you keep in shape?

Green: I run sometimes. I lift weights everyday. I coach my kid’s baseball, and I hunt (and) fish.

Contact features writer Jessica Cole at (785) 295-5628.