City police unit celebrates 100 years on duty, all on Harley-Davidsons
Saturday, June 27, 2009
By Jerome L. Sherman, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Tim Kirsch, a retired Pittsburgh motorcycle police officer, still has the scars from a May 3, 1982, traffic stop.

That day, he witnessed a driver zoom through several red lights on Grant Street, Downtown. When he chased the vehicle onto a ramp for the Parkway East, the driver sideswiped his motorcycle.

The bike skidded 500 feet, tearing off one of Mr. Kirsch's boots, his pants and crushing his helmet. Yet the officer still pulled his gun, took the driver from the vehicle and made the arrest. He also spent 30 days in the hospital and underwent six operations.

And as soon as he was back on his feet, he was back on a police motorcycle, patrolling the streets of Pittsburgh without a moment's hesitation.

"It's a front-row seat to the greatest show on Earth," Mr. Kirsch, 65, said yesterday, standing outside the city's North Side police headquarters.

His words were echoed by dozens of current and former officers with the motorcycle unit, which is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year.

In 1909, the city purchased five Harley-Davidson motorcycles that were little more than "bicycles with motors," said Sgt. George DeVault.

Today, the unit has 26 officers, and they still ride Harleys. But these Harleys come with anti-lock brakes, LED lights, six-speed transmissions and $28,000 price tags.

"They're the very best motorcycle ever built for police work," said Sgt. DeVault, who joined the unit in 1986 and is now a supervisor.

Yesterday's reunion was a boisterous and bittersweet event, with retirees, some in their 70s and 80s, swapping stories and looking longingly at the police bureau's newest motorcycles.

"What you all do is something I can't do -- the precision, the teamwork," Assistant Chief William Bochter told the group. "You really are the rock stars of this job. Every kid is a fan."

One retired officer, Bill Freiss, comes from three generations with the motorcycle unit. His grandfather, who joined the city traffic division in 1928, was killed on the Smithfield Street Bridge seven years later.

"I would police the same spot. I hope I did him proud," Mr. Freiss told his fellow retirees.

Also at the reunion was Regina Martin, the first female motorcycle officer, who joined the traffic division in 1978 but wasn't permitted to ride a two-wheel vehicle on the job until 1984.

She said she faced hostility from the male officers, but Horace McDaniel, a former police commander who also attended yesterday's event, cleared the way for Ms. Martin, who retired in 2004 and now runs an animal rescue farm in Cochranton, Crawford County.

Police Chief Nate Harper also recalled his days as a motorcycle officer, showing scars on his arm from a pursuit on the Parkway East in the 1980s, when his bike "slid the length of a football field."

Yesterday, he mounted a restored Harley FLH bike similar to the one he used two decades ago. The motorcycle has a hand-operated "suicide shifter," which forces riders to let go of the handlebar to shift gears.

A foot pedal powers the siren, which sits on top of a metal rod.

"This is one of the dinosaurs," Chief Harper said of the bike.