KOKOMO, Ind. (AP) - The GM parking lot near Indiana 931 and Boulevard Street was dotted with intricate arrangements of orange traffic cones spanning almost the entire lot, marking the intended course for police officers training to become certified motor officers.
Three of the 15 training officers were Kokomo Police Department officers vying for the additional title, while the others represented departments from around the country.
“It looks easy, but it’s very difficult as big as the bikes are and as close as the cones are,” said KPD Capt. Heath Haalck, as officers riding 850-pound 2017 Harvey Davidson Road Kings wove in and out of closely placed cones. Frequently, cones would be knocked over or the motorcycle would tip over.
It’s expected, said Haalck. They’ve been asked to handle a motorcycle in ways they never had before.
“The biggest part of this is the head game - it’s all in your head. It’s having the confidence of doing exactly what we tell you. How to use your head and eyes, and placement of the motorcycle,” he said at the lot on a recent morning, with motorcycle engines filling the air.
It was the second day of training, but the first day of serious exercises on the motorcycles. The course spans two weeks for the cops on bikes. Additionally, some of the instructors were in a training of their own to become certified instructors. Their training lasts three weeks, and one KPD motor officer is among their ranks.
“You see how unsmooth they are right now, and having some difficulties. By the end of next week when they’ve done these exercises over and over and over again and (have had) a lot of instruction, it’s nice to see them progress to where they can just flow through here,” said Haalck.
The officers follow a well-planned curriculum from the Northwestern University Center for Public Safety and made possible through a partnership with Harley Davidson, which provides the motorcycles and a commercial vehicle to transport them all.
Jerard Pribyl, police motorcycle training coordinator for Harley Davidson, said the relationship between the famed motorcycle manufacturer and the university began 22 years ago. That was just after two Milwaukee-based officers saw a need for police motorcycle training, and loaded a U-Haul trailer with two Harley Davidsons and began offering training to surrounding departments.
The partnership with Northwestern University birthed a certified curriculum.
“We’ve gone from two bikes in the U-Haul to a million dollars’ worth of equipment going down the road,” said Pribyl, a retired motorcycle officer from the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department.
Kokomo usually hosts the training every other year, although the last time was in 2014.
The double-decker trailer, pulled behind a semi-tractor, lets Pribyl haul 14 motorcycles in the top level and eight on the bottom, which mainly serves as his shop. It’s where he works frequently on each bike at the end of, and throughout, the day.
Twice Pribyl was interrupted during an interview with the Tribune by motor officers-in-training stopping by for assistance with a bike.
“The wear and tear on a police motorcycle is at least twice, three times as much just for duty work than a civilian, because civilians don’t ride as aggressively, and they don’t demand as much from the motorcycles as a police officer,” Pribyl said.
And the strain on motorcycles is even more strenuous during training, where Haalck said damage over the two-week period can amount to between $2,500 and $2,800 per motorcycle.
And the strain is also felt on the officers, who are taking part in what Haalck called the most difficult training a cop can face.
Throughout his law enforcement career, Haalck has received training as a sniper and a SWAT team member, but he ranks motorcycle training as the most difficult training he’s completed.
“I personally believe that. I’ve been through a lot, and I’ve heard a lot of officers say the same thing,” he said.
He added later: “Your normal citizen rider, they’re back in the seat - they’re relaxed. A motor officer is ready for something to happen all the time, they’re always ready for something,” he said.
And the difficult path to get there was on display.
At the end of each run, an instructor walked over and told each officer what he did well and what he could improve. Instructors were looking for a number of techniques, said Haalck: posture, where the head and eyes were looking, fingers on the clutch, fingers on the throttle, whether brakes were covered when the need to, etc.
But when the officer makes it through the training - an overwhelming majority of them do - the benefits are maneuverability in congested traffic, and an ease in reaching scenes. It’s an adrenaline rush, said Haalck, to head to a time-sensitive scene on a motorcycle, lights and sirens activated.
“You have to really pay attention, I mean we do in the car also, but the likelihood that we could be hurt on the motorcycle is far greater than we could in the car. We have to really watch what we’re doing - watch traffic,” he said.
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Source: Kokomo Tribune
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Information from: Kokomo Tribune, http://www.ktonline.com
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