What do you think?? Police Motorcycle Cops

I live and work just North of Atlanta, GA and on my way to work this morning I noticed two City of Alpharetta police riding brand new BMW police bikes. I'm not sure of the model but I believe they were R1200-RT. Now I've never owned a BMW before so I can't speak about their reliability but I do know they are quite expensive to buy and maintain so my question is do you think BMW's are a good choice for Police department bikes? What kind of bikes do the Police in your area ride and do you think BMW's are appropriate machines for govermenet agencies that are usually running on tight budgets. I'm sure they are more reliable than Harley's but I'm not convinced that BMW's are the best choice. What are your thoughts?

Rollin

 

downtown cops in Charleston ride nighthawk 250's and I have seen some HD, BMW on the normal/Hwy roads. I would assume they are getting the BMW at a killer price but if not then they need to switch to a cheaper/better bike. Why not a concourse or FJR

 

The CHP in California used to ride the BMW's but got rid of them because the cost of maintenance was too high (I was speaking to a CHP officer about it at a fair). I've started to see more ST1300 recently with a few die-hards poking along on a hardley. I wish the state would let them wear the right gear. Those half helmets, no armor and S/M boots just don't cut it!

 

I too thought that the Kawi Connie or Honda ST would make a good choice! GA400 which is one of the state roads that runs through Alpharetta is also referred to by the local police as "The Alpharetta Autobahn" because it is not uncommon to see people blast by you going close to 100mph. Nighthawks 250's which are also used here by our downtown Atlanta police would be extremely underpowered and useless on the highways. Perhaps something like this would be a little better suited.




Rollin

 

They use to ride Bee em's down here in Australia but seem to be switching to Yamaha FJR's?

 

I agree 100%, Police should be setting an example and here they are riding the roads more hours then any normal rider would ever dream of. More likely to have something to happen to them and they have as much gear as the average squid/HD rider.

 

aside from the half helmets, the boots they wear are pretty good at protection.(better than what most of the M/C folks wear) the patrolmen all wear bulletproof vests which are good for stopping blunt trauma injuries. As well as in the colder days they have leather Jackets(no biult in Armour to speak of , but better than the days of CHiPs. as far as the CHP and what they ride, down here in SoCal they are still using the BMW's. the city police are riding st1300's (?)......

 

SS is correct+1
Well, San Diego and Orange County are retired the BMW and getting ST1300 for their department. You can pick one Cop bike with all the bell and whisle for around 6k.

 

maybe they started at the top and the bottom of the state and are working their way to the middle.I'll peek into the CHP yard on my way home tonight and see what they have.....

 

It not that they don't want to wear better gear; the departments won't let them because they are suppose to show a "friendly face" to the public and not scare them when they approach. If the guy is all armored up then they look like storm-trooper. Then again when the CHP pull you over for doing 110 in a 35 zone i really don't think it will matter what he's wearing when he 's beating you over the head with his stick...

 

I've seen HD, BMW and even the odd Gold WIng being used by the police. From what I've heard, the police have a list of performance and budget criteria. Who ever can meet the specs can get the deal. I know if I were out chasing people on the highway I wouldn't mind a BMW K1300GT!

 

They allow them to wear leather jackets, but 99% of them that I see in do not wear them unless it is cold enough to warrant it. What about modular helmets? Pull somebody over, then just flip up the lid. That would be a good compromise.

Face it, they are acting a little squidly. I would rather be cooler by not wearing a jacket, but I would not do so because of the danger.

 

You also don't have to be super experienced to be a MC. I read up on the criteria and found nothing having to do with riding experience.

Maybe I'm wrong

 

A few months back, motorcycle consumer news (the paper magazine) did a big right up on police mc's. They spoke with several depts. the biggest being Phoenix PD. They all loved the old Kawa KZ1000, but they are no longer made, so they went with BMW (R1200 RT-P), although now they are starting to phase in ST1300's mainly due to the cost/maint of the BMW's. Can't find part two of the article (feb 2010 issue) but I thought I read that KAWA (or a company partnering with KAWA) is going to start producing police mc's. Anyways, at least in AZ, they seem to prefer the ST1300 and the mods Honda was continually making to the bike based on their suggestions.

As far as rider training, in Sept 09 issue was a write-up on the NW Motorcycle school's "Ride like a cop" class that users said was fairly intensive.

Getting back to the original question, here is WA I see a lot of Honda's and BMW's.

 

We lost both our Motor Patrol Instuctors a couple years ago at our department. We used Harley Road Kings that handled like cement trucks. We were blessed with excellent intruction and screwed with crap gear for motor officers, half helmets, unarmored leathers, tall calvary boots.. just crap. Before we turned in the Harleys there was talk of going to the Honda ST1300 as we got more "riders" and less "harley dudes" on the bikes but then lost our intructors. The program is dead now and no plans to revive it.

 

The only thing you will find around here in Indiana is Harley's. State cop's are always white bikes with the ocassional black trim/accents and lettering. There are a few city cops starting to go all black around here which makes them harder to spot from a distance and pick out from just a normal civilian.

 

The Japanese police are the only ones who got it right. When they approached Honda all they said was they wanted flashing lights and gear driven cams. For those of you who have never seen the Japanese police in action before enjoy the video!!

[video=youtube;_1Vsnw1u5g4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1Vsnw1u5g4[/video]


[video=youtube;k2BTOOqFVk4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2BTOOqFVk4&feature=related[/video]

Rollin

 

gotta love those gear driven cams....

 

awesome riding skills shown by the Japanese MC!

 

tehy are hella good too. you should see them in action on the streets...