Canterbury road policing manager Inspector Greg Cottam said police will be introducing e-bikes to their vehicle fleet from about Labour Weekend.
"We’ll be using those for sort of central city patrolling and things."
He said e-bikes will be able to access more locations where crime occurs than cars can and will make policing driver behaviour easier, especially at intersections.
"Cars can be a bit of a barrier, especially in the central city.
"It’s pretty easy for the rider to zip around. It makes it safer at red lights and at stop signs.”
He said the initiative was also about the environmental impacts of policing.
"We’re just looking at different ways of doing things."
Policing on e-bikes has been trailled elsewhere in New Zealand earlier this year, including in Dunedin, Auckland and Wellington.
E-bikes were trialled by police in these areas in February and this was successful. The decision has now been made to wheel out the initiative across the nation.
