Call them "pedal power patrols." A local police officer is using that pedal power to serve his community. Millersburg Officer Jeremy Ulsh says it is allowing him to connect to residents in a unique way.

"For here in Millersburg, my goal is to get out and interact with the community," says Officer Ulsh.

Ulsh recently attended police bike training. Pedaling through town has become a nearly-full time job.

"Pretty much, an average day, I come out, drive around our schools. Then I'll ride around town on the bike go out and just interact with people," Ulsh said. "They're actually seeing us and being able to interact with us and talk to us more than just driving by and trying to flag us down."

At Reed's Sunoco, employees call Ulsh "Pacific Blue."

"He always checks up to see how things are going," said employee Judy Bowman. "If we ever have any problems with things, he always there to help us."

"He gets out more one on one with the people in town," Jerry Lauver said. "You can get into a lot of places quicker on a bicycle than you can in a car."

Officer Ulsh says it helps in other ways too.

"If you're going down the back alleys, you're going to hear a lot more," says Ulsh. "Therefore, we can kind of sneak up on different activities that are going on."

Ulsh says, originally, he was assigned to the bike beat. Now, he requests to stay on it.

"I love it," he notes. "Where else do you get paid to go exercise, by riding a bicycle all day long, wear shorts to work, and just interact with the people and talk for hours at times?"

Millersburg police would like more bicycles, but budget constraints make it tough. So if you can help, call the police department at (717) 692-2323.