--- title: Skateboard Cop? Skateboard Cop. description: The world's first. canonical: https://time.com/2979654/skateboard-cop/ author: Bijan Stephen article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-07-13T19:25:22.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:11:38.617Z og:title: Skateboard Cop? Skateboard Cop. og:description: The world's first. og:url: https://time.com/2979654/skateboard-cop/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt67f652131ee97c6b/69869b8d1eebf7ca6b371d84/screen-shot-2014-07-13-at-3-45.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Screen-Shot-2014-07-13-at-3.45 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Skateboard Cop? Skateboard Cop. twitter:description: The world's first. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt67f652131ee97c6b/69869b8d1eebf7ca6b371d84/screen-shot-2014-07-13-at-3-45.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Skateboarding Cop Gives Out the Gnarliest Tickets by [Bijan Stephen](https://time.com/author/bijan-stephen/) ## Bijan Stephen Jul 13, 2014 7:25 PM UTC  by [Bijan Stephen](https://time.com/author/bijan-stephen/) ## Bijan Stephen Jul 13, 2014 7:25 PM UTC There’s a new sheriff in town. And it turns out he’s got a mean ollie. Meet Joel Zwicky, the world’s first [skateboarding cop](http://www.odditycentral.com/news/meet-the-worlds-first-skateboarding-cop.html). He’s based in Green Bay, Wisc. and started his skating patrols in March—already, they’ve been a huge success. In an interview with [ABC News](http://abcnews.go.com/US/skateboard-cop-break-barriers-green-bay/story?id=24327249), he told reporters that he floated the idea in response to his department chief’s call for new ways to engage with the community. “I kind of had the idea, like, two years ago, just because I like to skate and I was trying to figure out how I can do it more at work so that I can – you know, if you do what you love, you don’t work a day in your life,” Zwicky told ABC. His skate patrols have had two main benefits: First, he engages in more open conversation with the community (due to the unorthodox/slightly absurd sight of a policeman on a longboard); and second, the board allows him access to places he’d otherwise be unable to patrol. According to ABC News, he hopes other departments across the country implement skateboards into their stable of vehicles—if, of course, their officers are rad enough. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/2979654/skateboard-cop/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/2979654/skateboard-cop/"},"headline":"Skateboarding Cop Gives Out the Gnarliest Tickets","datePublished":"2014-07-13T19:25:22.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:11:38.617Z","description":"Joel Zwicky aims to pull off some sick arrests, bro","url":"https://time.com/2979654/skateboard-cop/","keywords":["Newsfeed","police"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt67f652131ee97c6b/69869b8d1eebf7ca6b371d84/screen-shot-2014-07-13-at-3-45.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Bijan Stephen","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/bijan-stephen/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt67f652131ee97c6b/69869b8d1eebf7ca6b371d84/screen-shot-2014-07-13-at-3-45.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Screen-Shot-2014-07-13-at-3.45","caption":"","creditText":"","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/2979654/skateboard-cop/","name":"Skateboarding Cop Gives Out the Gnarliest Tickets"}}]}] ```