The Ride Report

One of the local power clubs threw a big fundraiser party last Sunday. There were hundreds of bikers there from at least 25 different clubs — some of them Christian clubs, and everything went very, very smoothly. The party was held at a VFW post in a relatively remote and unpopulated suburb, in an area that sees a lot of motorcycle traffic owing to its proximity to some great canyon riding. The VFW has a large parking lot that held at least 300 bikes, and the overflow parked along the highway shoulder outside the gate. There was a live band on stage, the food was catered by a local Mexican restaurant, and everyone had a good time. Having been there personally and seen it all happen, I can tell you that the entire event was peaceful, was a success, and went off with zero problems. The closest it ever came to being disruptive to the community is when a hangaround out front stopped traffic on the 2-lane road from time to time to allow groups of motorcycles to pull out safely.

But that’s the story from the inside. Outside, the cops were running wild. There are three main roads leading to the VFW and the police had what amounts to roadblocks set up on each one where they were harassing bikers going to and from the party. I heard stories of groups of 10 and 20 bikers at a time — charters from the hosting power club riding together as a pack — being pulled over at gunpoint, only to ultimately be issued bullshit helmet and exhaust tickets. Two guys from my own club got pulled over and hassled for at least half an hour before one of them was given a ticket for his “modified” aftermarket exhaust. They were going to write the other guy up for the same thing before he got it through the cop’s thick skull that a stock exhaust system is just that: stock, aka “unmodified.”

And then today I stumbled across a story in the local rag about what a dangerous, disruptive event this party was and how the cops had to scramble to deal with it. The lead from the story started with this and then went steadily downhill: “Several dozen deputies were called in to address a growing concern in the community regarding suspected outlaw motorcycle gangs congregating at local establishments.”

Oh no! “Suspected” motorcycle “gangs” were “congregating”! Lock up your women and children! What bullshit.

The story went on to talk about how disruptive the party was, how the cops were spread so thin that they had to call in reinforcements from other departments, and basically painted the party as the third coming of Attila the Hun and his barbarian horde. It was so slanted that it might as well have been written by the local cop shop’s desk sergeant.

The cops have a vested interested in harassing bikers and drumming up bullshit charges — it’s all about the money. If they play the Gang card, then that opens the floodgates to a bunch of extra money that protects them from layoffs, lets them get more overtime, buy new toys, and even hire more cops. They have a strong incentive to build mountains out of molehills, and the local cops have said that they’re going after bikers specifically to keep the money flowing. So they roll on a well-organized, peaceful party like this one, act like it’s World War III, and then sit back and count the money rolling in. And reporters like this one, who don’t do their homework and let the cops spoon feed them the story without questioning it, don’t help at all.

One last thing to think about on this topic… The next time you hear about a big police raid on a biker club (note: club, not “gang”), pay attention to how many arrests they claim to have made and what charges were filed — and then go check it out again six months down the road. You’ll be amazed at how many of those charges have been dropped. And then another year or so down the road, after the cases have gone to trial (if they even go that far), check out how many convictions there were. You’ll be amazed at what a colossal waste of resources it’s been.