With no time to stop YOU quickly check your mirror, push right and go right and continue in the #3 lane as YOU continue to monitor the call for service. As YOU now exit the interstate YOU
have a long continuous radius curve and knowing that YOU have too much speed YOU apply effective braking as YOU enter the curve, YOU then release the brakes, lean and look through the corner with consistent power to the rear wheel using effective throttle control and then as YOU begin to exit, YOU straighten the motorcycle and accelerate quickly onto the county highway which has a canal boundary on each side. YOU now travel approximately 1 mile and real- ize that YOU passed the residential entrance so YOU must make a fl awless U-turn to ensure YOU remain on the pavement and not in the water. As YOU slow the motorcycle you look
where you want to go with your chin above your shoulder and using proper posture on the machine you maintain an effective friction/gray area and accelerate out of your U-turn. YOU now enter a residential area with a posted 25 mph
The 2011 test bike taking rounds. Ultimate Cover. Preparation demonstrates the need for practice.
enforcement – but how many techniques were used in this one scenario? Ten items were used on this one
day – items that require YOU to practice so that you are prepared! • Multi-Tasking • Countersteering • Curve Negotiation • Head and Eyes • Brake and Escape • Situational Awareness • Using the Motorcycle for cover • Shooting Around Cover not over top • Third Eye Principle Over the past 20 years I have tested
various motorcycles and associated gear to demonstrate to motor offi cers that the motorcycle can provide necessary cover when needed. To be perfectly clear – if I have a choice between a concrete wall, Tahoe or a motorcycle I will select my cover in that order. However on that one day if I have nothing to use but my motorcycle I’m confident that it will provide cover and I’m prepared knowing
how I will use that cover. The most recent test occurred on October 19, 2011 in Tal-
speed zone with residential homes lining both sides of the street. Communications provides an update that the offi cer is down and still under attack and your speed increases! Then at the peak of your acceleration, a mini-van backs out into your path. Without hesitation or thought you apply the front brake fi rst, followed by the rear brake, using proper posture and looking at the horizon, YOU seek an avenue of escape as YOU begin to downshift. YOU and the van operator now make eye contact and the operator stops the vehicle but is still blocking the roadway. YOU observe a slight avenue of escape to the rear which you capture and accelerate on. As YOU approach the parking lot, YOU observe the
marked police unit with the lights on, driver’s door open and the offi cer lying next to the door. As YOU pull next to the vehicle YOU now start taking rounds from the three o’clock side – with nowhere to run or hide, YOU simply drop your motorcycle and seek cover looking around and under but not over top. While you scan the horizon looking for the bad guy, you maintain the “third eye” principle to ensure that your fi rearm and vision travel together while using cover. Communications then announces the scene is now secure
and that other offi cers have stopped the bad guy who is down and in custody. The downed offi cer took multiple rounds but he will survive because he was prepared for this one day – body armor! Across this great country it’s just another day in law
lahassee, Florida. Knowing the value and importance of this topic, Steve St. Thomas, Director of Harley-Davidson Police Motorcycles, donated a FLHTP Electra Glide®
motorcycle
so we could conduct this testing. Photos and a video were taken to memorialize the testing and upon completion it was proven once again that the Harley-Davidson®
police
motorcycle can provide cover. If YOU have failed to prepare and train with your
motorcycle for a deadly force encounter, then “What are you waiting for”? It’s important to learn the basic fundamentals of operating the motorcycle using cone patterns but when the bell rings riding a single 360º in both directions with no simulated stress, it will not provide you with the real- ity of life. Your training needs to consist of a balance attack:
• Cone Patterns • Crash Avoidance Exercises • Street Strategy to include escorts, tactics and vehicle stops Tactics, Techniques and Procedures are the playbook
that YOU must follow, that YOU must practice. Remember “To be advanced you must master the basics but you and I never will, so keep practicing.”
JIM POLAN IS A 34-YEAR VETERAN OF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND CURRENTLY SERVING THE BROWARD SHERIFF’S OFFICE IN FORT LAUDERDALE COUNTY, FLORIDA
SPRING 2015 | THE MOTOR OFFICER™ 19
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