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By Kirby Beck, IPMBA President
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Bike patrol is a high liability/high risk
activity. I have made this a recurring theme in national publications and
with law enforcement organizations like American Society of Law Enforcement
Trainers (ASLET) and the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP).
It is important that all IPMBA members who agree with me share this theme
with administrators and trainers at every possible opportunity. Some would
say we should all "sing from the same sheet music." It is time that bike
patrol gets treated with the seriousness it deserves. We have proven that
bike patrol isn't just a fad, and we all know that bike patrol indeed works.
Kathy Vonk and Lou Ann Hamblin have been surveying our members at the Police
on Bikes conferences for several years. The survey always includes a question
about injuries during bike patrol training and/or on-duty riding. Nearly
55% of the respondents reported some sort of injury while training or on-duty
riding. While most of these injuries were usually minor, such as road rash
(abrasions), bruises and injured pride, more serious injuries have included
fractures or dislocations of upper extremities, severe lacerations, and
concussions. (See Kathy's article "Training and Policy" IPMBA News Summer
2000)
I know from my own training classes that students, and even sometimes
instructors, lose their balance and fall. Minor injuries are inevitable.
A bike is a single track vehicle that relies upon the rider to balance it.
If that balance is somehow compromised, and the bike is left to itself, it
will fall every time!
Two of our IPMBA Instructors have had students die as a result of their training
classes. One student died from an apparent heart attack. The second fatality,
just this summer, died two days after an off-road training ride during which
he did an "endo" over the handlebars and fractured his neck.
Falls are common during training and while on bike patrol duty; serious falls
and crashes with vehicles are uncommon. One of the primary reasons for training
is to prevent serious injuries from falls and crashes. Having a qualified
instructor who understands and enforces class safety guidelines is essential
to the safety of the trainees, both during and after the training. Can you
imagine what would happen if any other police activity resulted in a 55%
injury rate during training or performance on the street? It would blow the
roof off. It happens in bike patrol work and nobody seems to care.
The point of this is to make you see - so you can help others see -- that
bike patrol work, and bike patrol training, are high liability activities.
Police have three other high risk training areas which have gotten the respect
they deserve: Firearms, Defensive Tactics (DT) and Emergency Vehicle Operation
(EVO). In each of these areas, it is recognized that students can be injured
or killed if the training isn't carefully monitored and controlled with safety
rules. These aspects of police work are taught by qualified and certified
individuals who are proficient in the performance of and schooled in the
safe instruction of the skills. Bike patrol and bike patrol instruction should
be added to this list.
Few police administrators would send an officer on the street without training
and qualification in firearms, DT or EVO. Too many, however, send officers
out on bike patrol without any training, assuming that they learned to ride
as children. Most learned how to balance, but very few learned how to ride
effectively and safely. Few know how to use gears properly, adjust the bike
to the proper fit, perform emergency maneuvers to avoid crashes, make minor
repairs and fix flats, and operate the bicycle safely and legally in heavy
traffic. They certainly do not know how to use the bike as a complete law
enforcement tool! To experienced, well-trained bike officers, the bike is
not only a mode of transportation - it is a tool that allows them to do their
jobs that much better.
It is risky enough to send untrained officers out on bike patrol; it is even
more risky to have an unqualified person provide training to others. Have
you ever known a police department to send an officer to a basic course in
Firearms, DT, or EVO and then expect them to teach it to their peers when
they return? Unbelievable as it sounds, it happens quite often in departments
that don't take bike patrol seriously. Frequently a bike patrol officer who
has had just 32 hours of training will be given the responsibility of training
all the other bike officers in the department. Those departments are taking
on unnecessary risks of both injury and liability.
As you speak with administrators, trainers, and supervisors about the need
for training, this high risk activity analogy may help make your point. It
is important that bike patrol be understood as not just a public relations
tool, but as a potentially dangerous policing strategy that can be both safe
and effective when officers receive the training they deserve. |
