'Progressive' police shouldn't use motorcycles

Editor:

I have a question: What good is a motorcycle to a modern police force? I ask because of the recent unnecessary death of a Columbia County deputy; what was he doing on that thing?

Seen objectively, motorcycles are even less useful than bicycles to policing; at least at bike cop when he gets done chatting up teen girls at the shopping center goes back to a fully equipped patrol car.

Financial decision? The cost of a fully equipped motorcycle is a percentage of a full-sized patrol vehicle -- but a motorcycle requires twice the maintenance and has between one-third and half the useful life of a car. It rains in Georgia, and occasionally, ices and snows; which leaves the motorcycle where?

Which would you rather have respond to your traffic accident: a fully equipped patrol car with blankets, flares, first aid, a place to sit out of the weather in safety, or Barney Fife on his bike? With a motorcycle, can an officer transport a prisoner? I suppose you could handle one on the (rear) seat -- if you don't mind them having access to the deputy's gun, club, and pepper spray! Can a motorcycle cop transport an injury? Not unless you drape them across the handlebars, which I suspect is frowned on by EMS.

How can a motorcyclist handle an out-of-control driver in a police chase? Trying the Pitt maneuver on a bike results in a long streak of red jam-like substance that used to be a motorcycle cop on the highway, rather than a felon spun out of control.

I'm being harshly graphic for a reason: Motorcycles are even less safe for cops than the average citizen. The average rider is little more than a weekend wannabe thug -- an American Express rebel without a clue who rides less than 100 miles a week.

Despite the cop's superior training and all the bells, whistles, lights and flashers, cops have an injury rate far exceeding civilians. They are on the road more, exposed to traffic. It's that simple.

There's one law that even cops have to obey; that's physics. The human body is composed in the main of a substance that has about the same strength as heavy-duty Jell-O; when a motorcycle goes bad, the automobile uses the rider as a bumper and strikes with a force that's measured in tons per square inch.

So why does this so-called "modern department" use these things? Sheriff Clay Whittle is a self-described "progressive law enforcement officer" -- just ask his campaign. When I worked in the emergency room we called motorcycles "donor-mobiles" as anyone riding one long enough will eventually become an organ donor.

So I have a question of Sheriff Roscoe P.: This department seems to consist mainly of Whittle relatives and cronies; how many of the top dog's family and friends does he send out to literally play in traffic on donor-mobiles?

Dave Stewart

Grovetown