What Ever Happened to "Mike the Bike"?

In 1971, the Western Springs Police Department hired a new patrol officer by the name of Bruno Kalan. With a strong resemblance to comedian Steve Martin, Kalan always seemed to have a smile on his face (see photo, left).

For seven years, Kalan cruised village streets, wrote traffic tickets, responded to accident scenes, and handled break-ins, shoplifting, and other such incidents. But, in 1978, he was re-assigned to crime prevention.

One of his first efforts involved his nephew, who was “electronically inclined”. Kalan and his nephew took an ordinary bike and added police markings, emergency flasher lights, sirens, a walkie-talkie, and a tape recorder. The electronics enabled the bike’s lights to flash in time with Kalan’s tape-recorded or live voice. He nicknamed the creation “Mike the Bike”.

Kalan would often bring the bike to each of the village’s elementary schools and give a crime prevention presentation with assistance from Mike. According to Kalan, “The kids would sit there and stare at it”. Once, he even had a little boy come up, kiss the headlight, and run away.
Kalan also recalled college students, home from vacation, saying, “Hi Bruno, how’s Mike?”

Apparently the message was paying off. Soon, other police departments copied the idea, including the DuPage County Sheriff and the Berwyn Police. But, joked Kalan, “They’re not as nice as ours”.

While Kalan admitted that Mike was his “claim to fame” in Western Springs, he was also well known for his efforts to raise citizen awareness of crime risks and how to avoid them. For example, in 1982, the Tylenol poisonings struck Illinois, with some of the tainted pills being found in Western Springs. Kalan recognized that time was of the essence. So, he quickly printed bright green warning flyers and recruited Boy Scouts and village employees to hand-deliver them at stoplights, shopping centers, and key intersections.

Based on this success, Kalan subsequently used similar flyers to get people to attend his crime prevention seminars. Where he used to get 3 or 4 attendees, he was subsequently averaging 125 to 130. And, to keep the sessions lively, he would employ films, jokes, and “Mike the Bike”. Kalan also coordinated the department’s “I Live Alone” program which provided daily phone contact with seniors, the drug awareness (DARE) program, a bicycle safety program, and the Neighborhood Watch program. He even represented the village by speaking at crime prevention conferences in other cities and through his involvement in the annual Law Enforcement Torch Run.

Kalan was also concerned about children who had to enter homes alone after school. So he developed a child-oriented presentation on how to spot signs of intrusion and what to do. Some attributed his ability to work well with the younger set to the fact that he and his wife had six children of their own.

While Bruno Kalan achieved the rank of sergeant and retired from the police force long ago, one question remains … What ever happened to Mike the Bike?

Each week, the Western Springs Historical Society presents a “Blast from the Past”. To view prior stories, visit us at www.westernspringshistory.org, or click on the author’s name shown above.