Harley Davidson 160mph Electra-Glide !!

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MIAMI TWP. - Two motorcycle cops are expected to begin patrolling in this Clermont County community next month.

The bikes' maneuverability will come in handy on highways packed with cars during rush hour, said township Police Chief R. Steven Bailey. But he's resisting any suggestion the new unit be named the Clermont Highway Patrol, or CHiPs for short.

"I'm not going to call it that," Bailey said. "We call it the Motorcycle Unit."


Just as on the old TV show "CHiPs," the officers will ride massive motorcycles. But unlike the 1977-83 show, the township cops won't ride together, Bailey said.

They will be on different 12-hour shifts, said Lt. Steve Rogers, the department's patrol coordinator. "One should be out there every day of the week."

If the weather gets nasty, "we'll put him back in a car," Bailey said.

Each officer's duties will be the same as if he were in a car, Rogers said. "The only thing he cannot do is transport a prisoner."

Officers Gary Roush and Scott Ball will patrol on Harley-Davidson Electra Glides with 1,450-cc engines.

The police model of the Harley generates about 70 horsepower and has a top speed of about 160 mph, said Bob Bacon, general sales manager of Harley-Davidson Cincinnati-Eastgate in Union Township.

But it's not really safe to drive that fast, he said.

While Roush and Ball are experienced motorcyclists, Bailey said, the officers will receive two weeks of special training from the Northwestern University Traffic Institute of Evanston, Ill., where the chief is an adjunct professor.

But the officers won't have to leave Ohio. Northwestern had already planned an August training session in London in Madison County, where the Ohio State Highway Patrol will send some of its officers for motorcycle training.

Miami is the first township in Clermont to start a motorcycle unit, Rogers said, though the county sheriff's office also uses two Harley-Davidson motorcycles to patrol.

The township's Harleys will be black with silver lettering.

"It's low profile," Bailey said of the bikes. "We'll be handing out speeding tickets using handheld radar or hand-held lasers to gauge the speed of cars."

While the motorcycles will mostly patrol residential areas, another benefit is "being able to get some places that maybe we couldn't get to now," Bailey said. "For example, the crashes we have up on Interstate 275 in the morning - my goodness, getting up there to a crash is incredible" in terms of the time.

The motorcycle cops will be able to weave in traffic "or go up the shoulder, whatever they need to do," Bailey said.

The chief said the township will save money because of the Motorcycle Unit. The Harleys should get 40 to 50 miles per gallon of gasoline, depending on how they're ridden. The department's cars, Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptors, get about 18 mpg, Rogers said.

Normally, such 2007 model Harleys sell for $16,500.

"We've signed a lease with Harley-Davidson Cincinnati-Eastgate for two motorcycles for $1" apiece, Bailey said. That one-year deal has an option for a second year at the same price.

The police department will equip the motorcycles for about $3,300 apiece, Rogers said. Outfitting the officers should cost about $1,200 apiece.