U. Police buying motorcycles

Six University Police officers will be riding in style this spring -- on two Harley Davidson motorcycles. The Division of Public Safety will lease two Harley Davidson motorcycles this spring for a year-long trial period that could end in the motorcycles becoming a permanent fixture in the University Police force. The motorcycles will be delivered "as soon as we can get them here," said University Police Chief Maureen Rush, who estimated they will arrive around the same time as Commencement. Vice President for Public Safety Tom Seamon estimated the cost of the lease to be about $2,200 a year. University Police have been using a bicycle patrol unit on campus since 1992. The unit has been expanding, and last summer SpectaGuard security guards also began patrolling on bikes. Rush said the bike patrol unit will expand again at the end of this school year. Six officers currently employed by Public Safety will make up the temporary unit that will assist in patrolling University City. Each officer is required to attend a week-long training program at the Philadelphia Police Highway Patrol Unit in the end of April. "Our plan is to have two officers on each shift be able to operate a motorcycle," Rush said. After the lease is up, University Police officials will determine whether to make the motorcycles a permanent addition to the force. "We will study the motorcycle patrol functions and see the value it adds to our overall mission and then we'll decide if we want to continue with the project," Rush said. One of the predominant reasons officials gave for considering adding a motorcycle unit is the vehicle's ability to maneuver through traffic. "They can get around where a [patrol] car can't," Seamon said. He said private streets are one of many locations "where a car is really too big" for accessibility. Motorcycles will particularly help the University Police to enforce traffic violations. According to Rush, the University Police have been increasing their enforcement of all traffic laws over the past few years, including both parking violations and moving violations, which include running red lights and speeding. "Even if a driver notices somebody in front of them, if they're going 65 miles an hour and they're on top of that person, they're never going to stop" in time, Rush said.