Officers take to Trikke patrol vehicles fast and find they do more than expected
Every Trikke deployment starts with one agency deciding to try something new. A look back at past October stories shows what happens next.
October 2023:Security Trikkes making the grade on college campuses found Positrons and Defenders “rolling along campus corridors” from Berkeley to Yale. More than 20 college and university police and security departments were already using them.
At Dallas College, which deployed Positrons across a downtown campus spread over several city blocks, then-Captain James Smith, Jr., put it simply: “Our mobility on the Trikkes makes us a lot more mobile and our response a lot faster.”
Dallas College is still at it. This year, the Dallas College Police Department added two Positron version 3 models, its third Trikke order since 2019.
At DFW, Sgt. Michael Schreacke called the Trikke “a favorite among officers due to its ease of use and effectiveness in maintaining a strong officer presence in terminals and parking garages.”
The same month, Cataño municipal police join Puerto Rico’s growing Trikke patrol network followed a coastal city across the bay from San Juan. Cataño joined more than a dozen municipalities and agencies on the island already riding Positrons. Days after its first deployment, the department requested a quote for three more units. Trikke trainer Albert Rivera called it “a wave of modernization” in community policing.
Campus police. Airport security. City patrols. Different settings, same result: once one agency puts Trikkes on patrol, others soon follow.
Getting a Trikke patrol vehicle from the station to the beat can be a challenge. Ride it on a busy thoroughfare built for cars, or lift it into the bed of a truck or the back of a van.
Now there’s a better way.
Enter the Trikke patrol rack, a new accessory that mounts on a truck or van and comes in single and double versions, carrying one or two Trikkes.
The Highland Village Police Department in North Texas had been waiting for it. “Are they available yet?” Sgt. David Pittinger asked Trikke in May. “We do have a need for these.”
In July, Trikke sent the department a double rack to put through its paces. Three months later, Pittinger’s verdict is in.
“We could not be happier with the rack,” he said.
How it works
Setup is a one-time job: the department bolts receivers onto the vehicle. Trikke supplies the receivers, bolts and drill bit. All the department needs is a power drill.
After that, no tools are needed. The rack slides into the receivers, the Trikke goes on the rack, and one officer handles the whole thing.
“A single officer has no problem installing the rack and then loading the Trikke,” Pittinger said. “It is so easy for an officer to place the Trikke on the rack and secure it.”
Simple and sturdy
Highland Village PD assembled and tested the rack within days of its arrival.
“The design is very simple and yet sturdy,” Pittinger reported at the time. “There is no concern that it might not be strong enough to hold two units. It slides into our receivers easily, but has very little wiggle or shifting from side to side.”
The department uses the rack mostly to get its Trikke from headquarters to local shopping centers without riding it on main roadways. One day, that short trip turned into a long one. Pittinger loaded the Trikke onto his truck, got dispatched to a call on the way, and spent several hours driving from call to call with the Trikke on the rack.
“At no time was I worried about the Trikke not being safe and secure,” he said. “By the time I arrived to my destination, the Trikke was just as secure as when I loaded it up.”
“No reason to change a thing”
Trikke asked Highland Village for critical feedback to improve the rack. Pittinger didn’t have any.
“I believe due to its simple and straightforward design that there is no reason to change a thing,” he said. “G (Trikke CEO Gildo Beleski) hit it out of the park with this rack, and I strongly recommend this rack (as is) for regular patrol operations.”
Before the rack, getting a Trikke into a truck meant lifting it. Pittinger, for one, doesn’t miss that.
“Speaking for myself, the rack has saved my tired old back a lot of misery,” he said.
The Trikke patrol rack is available now in limited quantities. Contact Trikke to order one or learn more.
Meet the police departments and agencies adding Trikke’s newest top-of-the-line patrol vehicles.
When Trikke Professional Mobility introduced the Positron version 3 in early 2026, the story was about the vehicle itself.
Redesigned from the ground up after years of field experience, the new Positron brought changes aimed at durability, equipment integration, and real-world patrol operations.
Now there’s another part of the story: who’s buying it.
Since deliveries began, 12 Positron version 3 units have gone to seven organizations: the Palatka (Florida) Police Department (three), Glendale Police Department, Dallas College Police Department, and Baton Rouge Community College (two each), and the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, Tennessee State Parks, and the VA Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina (one each).
Dallas College adds to its Positron fleet
In 2019, the Dallas College Police Department deployed four Positrons to help officers patrol one of the largest community college systems in Texas. Two years later, the department added another six units. This year, it added two version 3 models.
“A major upgrade”
Cpl. Ryan Martinez, a Trikke instructor with the Dallas College Police Department, has been riding the new units.
“The upgrades have been incredible,” he says. “Overall, version 3 is a major upgrade.”
How so? “I’ve noticed a significant difference in the acceleration,” Martinez says.
Then the lights. “The lighting system is also much brighter and stands out more during nighttime and early-morning hours,” he says. During the day, the lights can be turned off to conserve battery power. Also, several new light cycles have been added, which, Martinez says, “makes it easier and faster to find a lighting pattern that works for the situation.”
The added police lighting and decals matter too. “They make it easier for people around us to identify us as law enforcement, and they allow us to clearly articulate that the vehicle is a marked police unit,” Martinez says.
Operating the vehicle is simpler as well. “The wiring and buttons have also been consolidated, making the system much easier to operate,” he says.
And there’s the increased visibility. “There have been more comments than usual from citizens when they see the Trikkes,” Martinez says. “They are taller and look more substantial while maintaining the same width.”
Twelve units. Seven organizations. And one department on its third order in seven years.
For Positron version 3, the reports from the field are just starting to come in.
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