0 0 8 custom alchemy for 2011 riding the beat in ... - Harley-News

a team effort Though the Milwaukee motor officers generally work
alone, other members of the Milwaukee Police Department can be
on the scene to provide backup in a matter of moments.
more specialized police equipment – including a sophisticated
computer/communication system in the Tour-Pak ® – are added
by the department.
Not surprisingly, most of Milwaukee’s motor officers – nearly
all, in fact – have motorcycles of their own. Some of them likely
get neglected, however, as their owners do so much riding on
the job. Each officer is issued his or her own Police motorcycle,
which they take home every day. Each is also responsible for
keeping up that vehicle’s cleaning and regular maintenance.
Rueda estimates he rides 50-60 miles during an eighthour
shift, which amounts to some 8,000-10,000 miles for the
season. And those are tough urban miles, not freewheeling
highway miles. Consequently, his 2001 Road King ® doesn’t get
as much regular use as he’d like.
Is it still “fun” to get to ride a Harley-Davidson motorcycle
all day? Rueda pauses a moment before responding.
“You know, everybody thinks that. People come to me and
say, ‘Hey, you’ve got the greatest job!’ But it’s not like we’re
riding off duty where you can ride around and just enjoy it. We
get to ride around, but we have to ride around while always being
aware of our surroundings, what’s going on. We have to listen to
the radio, and to answer the radio sometimes while we’re riding.
We listen to where other squads are. There’s a lot happening.
So it’s fun, but not as enjoyable as some people think.”
... 2:15 PM ...
Officer Rueda makes what seems, at first, to be a
routine stop. But this one generates a little more excitement.
He speaks with the driver, and mere moments after returning
to his bike an unmarked police car arrives and three officers
emerge, at least one of whom is wearing a bullet-proof vest.
The two occupants of the stopped car (which has a broken rear
window) are asked to exit the vehicle, are frisked, and instructed
to sit on the curb. They cooperate fully.
A few minutes later, a squad car pulls in behind. Then a van,
and then another officer on a motorcycle. A uniformed officer
emerges from the squad car with a beautiful German Shepherd,
which is then led into the car. The dog’s presence seems to both
raise the stakes and take some tension from the air – for the
officers, at least.
“Having a dog on the scene is a great equalizer,” says
Officer Joseph Honzelka, the second mounted officer to arrive.
While Rueda continues to work at his computer, Honzelka
uses an electronic fingerprinting machine to run a check on the
car’s occupants. A slight traffic jam develops on the narrow side
street, as a multitude of official vehicles are now on the scene.
Ultimately, the situation winds down nearly as suddenly as it
developed. One by one the vehicles depart, leaving only the two
mounted officers to sort things out. Rueda prints a citation with
the printer in his Tour-Pak, goes over it with the car’s driver, who
has no driver license. He then sends the car on its way – but only
after instructing the driver and passenger to switch places. Soon,
all is quiet again, and Officer Rueda explains what went down:
“As soon as the driver opened his window, I smelled what I
thought was marijuana. He didn’t have a license or I.D. at all. And
his passenger had no I.D., so at that point I called for other squads.
And as you can see, we do have plenty of squads available.
“When I ran him through the computer the first time, I didn’t
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