Arlington, TX police to get 'Glides

[Desolation Angel]

I heard on the radio today that the City of Arlington, a rather large suburb of Dallas (pop. 350,000+), will be purchasing new motorbikes for the police department.  They currently run BMWs and Kawasakis.  Now they will have, as the press report stated, new all American-made H-D Electraglides!  Supposedly for consistency of equipment within the department.  Whatever that means.  

Not meant to be a H-D bashing thread at all, but, what are they thinking?  Replace their current rides with these primitive bikes?  H-D must offer some incredible incentives or something.  Or someone making decisions with the City is a dumb@ss.  Harleys are great for fun, if one is your thing, but not for professional use in the 21st Century.

I can't imagine officers asking for these over Beemers, but who knows?!

Seems odd to me.  I could see departments upgrading to BMWs, Kawas, or Hondas, from Harleys, but not the other way around.

[Red01]

It probably DOES have something to do with incentives. I'm not sure if HD is still doing it, but a couple of years ago I was reading that HD was leasing police bikes to departments for $1/year/bike. Can't beat that, even if the performance isn't up to the standards of everyone else's bikes. Still, most of our WA police outfits have gone away from HD's and run BMW's or Honda ST13's they have to buy. Mostly because these bikes spend less time in the shop.

[Desolation Angel]

It probably DOES have something to do with incentives. I'm not sure if HD is still doing it, but a couple of years ago I was reading that HD was leasing police bikes to departments for $1/year/bike. Can't beat that, even if the performance isn't up to the standards of everyone else's bikes. Still, most of our WA police outfits have gone away from HD's and run BMW's or Honda ST13's they have to buy. Mostly because these bikes spend less time in the shop.

Plus I would imagine your officers have a considerably better chance of catching someone.     Leasing for a dollar a year per bike?     I suppose that if your company is making a cr@pload of money, and Harley allegedly is, then you can generate a lot of free advertising and word of mouth for your bikes by doing this sort of thing.  I can see the uninitiated taking note of what the police ride and thinking, "Gosh, those must be the best bikes since the police ride 'em!"

[WEINERDOGBONE]

Incentives are the key. HD offered my PD two Road Kings last year for a buck a piece.

[jbrough7]

You know, even at that price, you'd still have to think about it for a while...

[solman]

I talked to one cop who rode a HD police bike and told me that they had added power than the stock bikes.  But, he wouldn't tell much of anything performance wise.  That pretty much told me that it probably isn't the best choice for a police bike.  However, I did talk to one cop who had a BMW bike.  He boasted about how good a bike it was and talked about all of the features that BMW offered.  I haven't seen or heard anything about Honda police bikes, but I am sure that they are nice.  For price wise from least expensive to most expensive:  Kawasaki, HD, BMW.  It also seems that it goes in the same order for junker to premier.  I have talked to bike shops that maintain Kawasaki police bikes.  They told me that they are known for oil leaks.

[tacoman]

I've noticed lately the city cops around here running Harleys.   One went screaming past me the other day, wasn't in pursuit I think he was just wringing it out.  The state patrol runs Beemers and the Sheriff depts still seem to be on Kawis.  I figured the city police went to Harleys because of good resale but there may be a good lease option because the city police usually don't have a big budget for bikes.