400 bikers out for a night on the town.Forget the police call in the National guard.

 

it used to be awsome. we would all be out together every thursday then the po po got scared. we would take care of our own, did not bother anyone, and policed our friends. they just saw it as a free revenue generator. now they have to deal with them all mixed on the streets.... have fun chasing

 

Man if what you say is true and I have no reason not to believe you that sucks big time. Is it all the different departments or jurisdictions down there or just one or two. I would consider calling some one at one of the bigger departments and ask why it seems all the sport bike riders are getting harassed. If they don't take kindly to your questioning ask to talk to their supervisor until you get a reasonable answer. My bet is that a few bad apples have gotten the attention of city council or someone and as they say crap is running down hill to the street officers. Since you say they are all targeting sport bikers in mass they are probably being pressured by their chain of commands to ticket every infraction sport bike related they see for a specific reason. I have never personally been told to target motorcyclists but when I used to work the OSU campus area there was always pressure on us to target underage drinkers because a few times a year some underage girl would get rapped or robbed after drinking all night at a party. Same thing would occur if there was all of a sudden an increase of jaywalkers getting struck while crossing the street. We would be told to look for and ticket all the jay walkers we see. It would get so bad the media would pick up on it and do a story on the nightly news. Once the higher ups saw some action at street level things would cool down and go back to normal.

Officer Adam S. Worthington
Your link between civilian and police relations!

 

joker,

You didn't start anything. I just feel the need to defend those who need defending and in this case it was the police. I am going to look for a Christian sport bike association around here. If there is not one maybe I will start one myself. I especially like hearing riding with your group can be a bit challenging. Sounds like my kind of people . As far as being on the forum a lot, I do take many "internet cocktail breaks" as their called when I am home. I'm not allowed to access anything except police or aviation related sites at work. [:@]

 

Have you seen Fords new commercial for there Mustang.Its what seems to be a 18 yr old kid driving in a parking lot at night with his father as the passenger and the kid is doing smoky burnouts through out the parking lot and the father is loving it.To me and Its my opinon but there seems to be a double standard.Honda or any other big bike maker would never make a commercial like that.It would bring to much attention to themselves.

 

yeah it is completely different down here as compared to columbus. i am a graduate of The Ohio State University and riding a bike up there was much friendlier than here. it almost seems like them seeing a sportbike is some sort of arrousal... could be that the majority of bikes come out at night since it is too damn hot here during the day so we may seem like roaches to them, but i wish some of the negative attention would go to the import tuner guys and stay off of us. they are much more of a problem. the news really likes doing an expose on motorcycles also since it is much easier to get a reaction out of a wheelie pic or vid rather than a silly four banger tryint to impress his chick with a fourteen second quarter time....

 

Well maybe if we get enough Buckeyes to ride and be cops everything would be fine, HAHA. I am a rookie cop in Gainesville, Fl and just started riding again after 5 years. I can tell you that the area you are riding in has probably been targeted for some reason. My brass is very liberal and lets us go out and do what we want, if we are pulling over too many people for tag lights out, or stuff hanging from their rear view mirror they tell us to stop. I think this too shall pass. When I do make a traffic stop I am usually looking for a dui or warrants or something else other than just harrasing people. I do not know how you feel about riding without a helmet, but Florida law allows you to ride without as long as you have 10k worth of insurance and some glasses on, that way just putting up your visor wont get you pulled over. Oh, and just a comment about calling IA or reporting you to IA, pretty much everything we do is on video now, as soon as my lights go on, it starts recording audio and video not to mention whenever I leave the car it records all the audio even if I am not in the cameras view. Anyway, calling "IA" sounds like some crap you hear on a tv show, I am a cop in the real world, and no tv show could ever describe or compare how it feels everytime you pull a car over wondering if this may be your last. I am not a cop on a power trip, didnt get picked on in high school, I wanted to be a good role model for my son, only work 25 years with 80% retirement, and get to go to work everyday and play with guns and chase bad guys. I am a newbie on here and will post some pics and all the other good stuff I am going to do to my bike, but I just wanted to put in my 2 cents.

 

FTP

 

Welcome FLCBRF4. Glad to hear the people of great state of FL has another level headed cop working their streets. It sounds like you also go by a spirit of the law not a letter of law way of doing business. keep your good attitude and you will have fun and do well through out your career.

80% after 25 years? We only get 65% after 25 and 72% max after 33 years. Maybe I should move to Florida? We actually had a guy leave our aviation section after getting hired by Broward County to fly for them last August. I hear he is coming back because he could not find a house close enough to work that he can afford.

Good luck an stay safe.

 

Keep that in mind next time you are in desperate need calling one for help.