‘Wobbling’ keeps HPD
Harleys off the road

The problem causes officers to
crash at high speeds, HPD says

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By Rod Antone
rantone@starbulletin.com

Honolulu police solo bike officers are parking their fleet of Harley-Davidson motorcycles indefinitely because of a "wobble" problem.

Police suspended the use of 22 Harley bikes immediately yesterday after announcing that the problem was causing officers to crash at high speeds.

"We've received complaints, and our vehicle maintenance section has confirmed that there are problems with the handling of the Harley-Davidsons at high speeds, pursuit-type speeds," said HPD Maj. Robert Prasser.

"I'm talking possibly 80 miles an hour plus, which our officers have to sometimes do.

"Our officers go after speeders, our officers go after reckless drivers and our officers have to escort presidential motorcades, like last week."

It was during the police escort of Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on Oct. 24 that a 29-year-old solo bike officer crashed his Harley into a wall near Houghtailing Street and the H-1 freeway. The officer was treated and released from Queen's Medical Center.

Prasser said that incident prompted the department to take its Harleys off the road.

"That wobble by an experienced rider -- sometimes they can, sometimes they can't pull out of it, and that can cause the bikes to go down," he said.

"As a safety issue, we are going to be grounding them indefinitely until we can come up with a solution to the problem or replace them with other motorcycles."

The suspension of the Harleys leaves 30 BMW and Kawasaki police motorcycles for 37 police solo bike officers. Prasser said the department will also place solo bike officers in blue-and-white marked police vehicles, as well as its black Chevy Camaro police cars, so they can carry out traffic enforcement duties.

At least one solo bike officer, who did not want to be identified, said he disagreed with the department's solution and described the officer who crashed as "new."

"An inexperienced rider will crash a BMW bike as well as a Harley," he said. "Nobody's happy about this."

In a letter to the city budget director dated Sept. 7, 2000, police Chief Lee Donohue wrote that the 1997 Harley-Davidson police model had a history of wobbling and injured four officers in crashes.

"I don't know if they're happy with it," Prasser said about his solo bike officers, "but at least they understand why we're doing it."