Motor officers. We see them on the highway splitting lanes, or aiming radar guns while partially hidden on a city street, and we sometimes wonder: Is it as exciting and as much fun as it appears to be? Who are these people, what do they do, and how are their motorcycles different than ours?
Motor officers are competitively selected volunteers. Departments often require three years experience, maturity, a good citation rate and exceptional riding skills. For candidates who make the cut, the path forward is rigorous. It usually starts with an ultra-intense, two-week course offered by larger agencies such as the Los Angeles Police Department (graduates describe the training as tough; tougher even than SWAT or Marine Corps boot camp). The attrition rate is high (touch a cone or put a foot down during testing, and you’re out). For the roughly 75 percent who graduate, on-the-job training follows. The process takes about eight weeks. Many motor officers also become trained accident investigators, which can take another six to eight weeks.
Many officers make motors a career. Others go in it for a few years and then return to other assignments as department needs evolve. Motor officer ages range from the 20s all the way up to a few who are in their late 60s. Many are college-educated, and a few have graduate degrees. Quite a few have military experience. Most are family men and women and motorcycling enthusiasts.
All of the motor officers I spoke with love what they do (who wouldn’t?), and this has a lot do to with the fact that they get paid to ride high-performance motorcycles while executing their traffic enforcement mission. Motor officers focus on speeding, intersection violations, cell phones, seat belt and commercial vehicle code enforcement. They seldom issue warnings (“If the boot hits the pavement, the pen hits the paper”), as studies show warnings don’t change bad driving habits. A motor officer might generate from 5-25 citations daily, but they don’t do it to generate revenue. One of the police chiefs I interviewed explained that very little citation money actually goes to the city (most goes to county, state and federal governments, and to the courts). Motor officers issue citations to change driving habits and to promote safer driving.
Motor officers usually don’t handle domestic disturbances, noise complaints and other nuisance calls, but they have other missions. One is the Active Shooter program, designed to address Columbine-like situations. The Active Shooter program gets heavily armed officers on-scene quickly. Police motorcycles carry a shotgun, an automatic rifle or a machine pistol locked in a rack, and with the ability to cut through traffic, motor officers can get anywhere quickly.
Most motor officers work weekdays during normal business hours. They have exclusive use of their motorcycles (they take them home at night), and they go directly on duty once they arrive in their area. Motor officers don’t work a beat (they can go anywhere within the city’s jurisdiction), but they do monitor assigned areas based on citizen complaints about infractions or other collision factors.
Police motorcycles include the BMW R1200RT-P, the Honda ST1300PA and two Harley-Davidsons (one based on the Road King, the other on the Electra Glide). BMW also has the GS650P (based on the GS650), and Harley the Buell Ulysses, but few opt for these models. The choice effectively boils down to BMW’s R1200RT-based model, Honda’s ST1300-based machine or either of the big-twin Harleys. Several departments still use the old Kawasaki KZ1000P, but Kawasaki exited the police market several years ago and the Kawasakis will ultimately be phased out.
All of the current manufacturers (Harley, BMW and Honda) sell only through dealers. A fully equipped police motorcycle is about $25,000, with the nod for lowest cost usually going to Harley-Davidson. Depart- ments buy their motorcycles through a competitive bidding process, with pricing determined by quantity and buy-back provisions. It’s a competitive market and margins are thin. On the other hand, most police agencies are preventive maintenance fanatics, so dealers do well in servicing police motorcycles.
Harley has been in the police motorcycle market longer than anybody (they sold police motorcycles in 1908 to Detroit, a city that is still a loyal Harley customer). Harley owns 85 percent of the domestic police market, and they sell police motorcycles in 45 other countries. Police Harleys use the 103-cubic-inch, Twin-Cam motor. While the Harleys are just a bit slower than either the Honda or the BMW, the difference is surprisingly small all the way up to freeway speeds, and the Harley is significantly quicker than the old Kawasaki KZ1000P. Harleys have a high resale value, and Harleys get the nod for officer comfort. Bob Laidlaw (patriarch of Laidlaw’s Harley-Davidson, one of Harley’s largest dealers) says, “Nothing has more command presence than a police officer on a Harley-Davidson.” Laidlaw knows what he’s talking about—he’s been around Harleys since the 1940s, and he recently sold nearly 300 Harleys to the Los Angeles Police Department.
BMW, always a major European player, started making inroads into the U.S. police motorcycle market about a dozen years ago. BMW’s U.S. penetration began with its in-line K bikes back in the 1980s, but the motorcycle that put them on the map was the boxer twin. BMW’s first major order was with the California Highway Patrol, and the CHP continues to use BMWs. The 1,200cc boxer twin R1200RT-P is the current police BMW, and the departments that use it are probably BMW’s most effective salespeople (they all love their BMWs). The BMW is faster in nearly every category than the other police motorcycles, and as the departments and BMW point out, it is delivered as a complete police package.
Add department radio heads and decals, and the bike is ready for duty. The police version includes two batteries (one for the bike, and one for emergency equipment), additional oil cooler fans and a police-specific wiring harness. Gene Eberhardt, motor sergeant and traffic commander for the Ontario Police Department in California, says that the R1200RT-P is much faster than the 1150 twin it replaced, and it can climb curbs without scraping the undercarriage (the R1150RT-P, the Harley and the Honda cannot).
Honda is a recent newcomer to the U.S. police market with its ST1300PA, although it dabbled in the U.S. market as early as the 1960s. Honda is big overseas with police versions of the 750 in-line four (the CBX750P) and the VFR, but neither is sold here. Honda’s ST1300PA is based on its civilian ST1300 and is an impressive motorcycle. The big Honda has several police-specific features (a speedometer graduated in 2-mph increments, handlebar risers, special controls, a radio box and a rear subframe with equipment mounting points). Dealers or the agencies install other police equipment (crashbars, strobe lights, radars, etc.). The Honda’s advantages are reliability, a network of 1,200 dealers and performance (the police version is governed to 117 mph, but it gets there quickly).
Motor officers typically only do about 50 miles per day on their police motorcycles, but the duty is severe. Tires last 2,000-3,000 miles due to the nature of the mission. If a motor officer detects a speeder, the motorcycle might accelerate from 0 to 90 mph and then back to a stop in less than 500 yards, and this might be repeated 20 times a day. It’s hard on clutches, tires and brakes. Most departments replace their motorcycles every three years, although the recession is lengthening replacement cycles.
So, the next time you see a motor officer, consider the very special nature of the machines and the people who ride them. Motor officers are highly trained professionals, and both the officers and the motorcycles earned their stripes through rigorous competition. And if you ever wondered if it is as much fun as it appears to be, every motor officer interviewed for this article responded with a resounding yes.
