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It's tough, but officer has to ride that hog

In training, police weave, fall, stop and fall some more. Mastering the Harley is hard work.

By JACOB H. FRIES
Published January 15, 2005

LARGO - The first test - weaving a 750-pound Harley between orange cones at 2 mph - is a trick one. You're expected to fail.

What's important is how you respond on the second or third or fourth or fifth attempt.

Instructors use the test to calculate the "trainability" of a police officer on a motorcycle. If the officer follows instructions and improves with each go, "that tells me they're someone I can train," said Largo police Officer Steve Field, a 26-year veteran.

Field has spent the past two weeks teaching five more patrol officers to ride the department-issued Harley Davidson Road King.

Besides allowing officers to knife through backed-up traffic or chase a suspect down a sidewalk, the motorcycles bolster traffic enforcement, said Chief Lester Aradi.

He cited studies showing drivers respond differently to the sight of a police officer on a motorcycle.

"When you see a police car, you slow down for a block," Aradi said. "When you see a police motorcycle, you slow down for nine blocks. The psychological impact is magnified."

Aradi said an increase in traffic citations had resulted, in part because of the motorcycle unit. In 2004, Largo police issued 13,419 citations, up from 7,984 two years earlier.

"Every time the budget gets tight, I'm asked, "Do you really need the motorcycles?"' Aradi said. "Yeah, we do."

The department has seven motorcycles and 16 officers certified to ride them.

Lt. Brian Browne and Officers Thomas Carvella, Kurt Iskra, Keith Snyder and Jonathan Wilcox completed the training Friday. To qualify, each had to have three years on the force, a clean driving record and a history of responding to a high number of 911 calls.

During the training, they learned to turn the bike on a dime and stop suddenly. It's grueling: During the first five days, one trainee had to pick the motorcycle off the ground 37 times.

"It is physically and emotionally demanding," Field said. "At the end of it, you're whipped."

Carvella, 38, has ridden motorcycles since age 10. Still, it took him five days of practice to complete one of the required maneuvers.

"It was very tough," he said.

When he joined the force, an uncle showed him a picture of his grandfather Michael Carvella, who, he said, had been the first motorcycle officer in southwest Pennsylvania in the 1940s.

"That set the hook," he said. "I had a legacy to live up to."

Now, he said, he finally has that chance.

Jacob H. Fries can be reached at 727 445-4156 or at jfries@sptimes.com

[Last modified January 15, 2005, 02:35:15]