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AGENCIES. FORT LAUDERDALE POLICE DEPARTMENT MOTORCYCLE UNIT. By Sgt. Jim Polan The City of Fort Lauderdale is located on the southeast coast of Florida 15 miles north of the City of Miami. Fort Lauderdale has a resident population of 150,000 residents, however, being the county hub on any given day the numbers rise drastically. The City is generally associated with the "Spring Break" days, which are now long gone. The Police Department has 500 sworn officers 50 correction officers and 250 non-sworn employees. The department is divided into four divisions: Administrative, Support Services, Operations and Community Support Division. The Motor unit is assigned to the Operations Bureau under the Community Support Division (CSD). THE TEAM We have 15 officers and two sergeants assigned to the motor unit and our primary assignment is traffic enforcement. We assist the community with traffic concerns by
New members are selected VIA the following procedure. Candidates must submit a transfer request form, with two stipulations; 1) motorcycle endorsement is mandatory and 2) off probation. At this time we review their Internal Affairs file, personal file and accident history. As one of the unit's supervisors I focus heavy on interpersonal relations, team player, judgement, dependability and ability to work without supervision. Once this initial review process is complete an interview process is scheduled; at which time each candidate is required to answer a list of specific questions and then given an opportunity to explain why they should be chosen. Each candidate is given a score on how they answer the questions and placed on a list, this list will then last for one year. TRAINING We strongly believe in training. IPTM, Northwestern and San Bernadino have certified our instructors. In our opinion, all three philosophies of training were important to offer the officer the safest training possible. There is no one way of training, you must be open for new ideas.
Our Basic motor school is two weeks operating from 80-120 hours depending on the student's ability. Upon successful completion of the school the student is placed into our 160 hour FTO program. The student will operate the motor while assigned to an instructor or veteran motor officer. Documentation for the basic school and FTO program is conducted on a continual basis. During this period the student is evaluated on street strategy and hazard recognition and given training on enforcement techniques. One example for enforcement technique is to provide the student with our operating procedures at an intersection. Four motor officers are assigned to an intersection on a traffic radio channel, each officer observes the traffic control device for one direction and enforces for another direction. Example, if you're on the southeast corner you spot for N/B violations and radio to the officer on the N/E for enforcement and you will enforce any violation that travels east from the other positioned officers. By conducting intersections in this spot-enforce technique, motor officers are not traveling through an intersection against traffic. Once the student successfully completes the FTO program they are released as an enforcement officer. Our unit is fortunate, our agency strongly believes in our safety and training, therefore, we have 8 hours of monthly in-service. The training is conducted during daylight hours, except during June, July and August. The schedule is changed to evenings to avoid the South Florida heat, provide the officers with the skill while operating at night and to conduct nighttime qualifications. During our monthly in-service we focus on accident avoidance exercises (brake-n-escape, 180' deceleration, 30 mph cone weave, curve negotiation, braking in a curve, accelerated U-turns) and cone patterns. Cone patterns are varied to avoid boredom and at times the rear brake is used and times when it is not used. In addition, once per year we conduct firearms training with the motorcycle for officer survival skills. EQUIPMENT  Our
unit is equipped with 19 Harley-Davidson Police FLH Classics, Peace
Officer Blue. We have a positive relationship with Fort Lauderdale
HD and receive new motors every year under our lease program. Each
officer is assigned a motor and is allowed to take the vehicle home
and to off-duty employment, the officer's call sign and motor unit
number is the same (i.e. Motor One). We have two spares, which are
used when the officer takes his assigned motor in for maintenance
or there is a mechanical concern. Officers are issued a Radar or Laser unit, tint meter, traffic control delay switch and keys to various control boxes and complete rain suit. If you would like to contribute information on your squad, please send an email. |
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