DENVER — Denver Police Officer Wallace Sam said his bicycle patrols help him connect the community and his roots.
"It's just a great way to see the city," Sam said.
Sam, a native of the Montbello neighborhood in Denver, has served with the Denver Police Department for almost eight years.
He said part of the reason he loves serving the Denver community is because of its diversity.
"I don't think you get as much of a melting pot as you do in Denver," Sam said.
He said the variety of cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds makes him a better officer.
"Downtown, you'll have a unique homeless population, and the same area you'll have a unique business population, and one issue here is a different issue there," Sam said. "As a police officer you have to know how to react and engage with a variety of different people."
That kind of balance is a quality he's noted in Civil Rights and African American community leaders, past and present.
"I love Martin Luther King Jr. and Samuel Battle," Sam said.
Battle was the first Black police officer in New York City.
"He went to that grassroots effort of talking to the community," Sam said. "That's something I strive to do, and I think the bicycle helps with that."
