For all of you that weren’t up at 6:00AM for Sunday morning’s national TV coverage, here’s a quick recap (I had my neighbor tape it for me):
- They incorrectly mentioned that cyclists get $94 tickets (see this post for more on the confusion).
- They interviewed traffic division commander Bill Sinnott and said the program was his “bright idea”.
- They rode around with Officer Hoesly (a really nice guy) and installed 6 sets of lights.
- They stopped cyclists and one of them said, “this is the first time I’ve actually seen the police ‘serve,'” to which everyone had a good laugh (including the cop).
- They called the program a “win-win for taxpayers” and said the “PR value is immeasurable”.
All in all, I think it was a great (even if they didn’t use any of my interview). While cops and bikes continue to clash in other parts of the country, here in Portland, we’re moving forward and working together to solve problems. PR value aside, that’s just cool.
I must admit, tonight I was taken aback by the police.
I was riding home, from the train, because, admittedly, I had a couple of drinks and wanted to get home safe.
So I had a 15 block ride home from the train.
I was at killingsworth and MLK jr., and I was freezing cold, so, with no cars in sight, I ran the light, after fully waiting for a few minutes.
And, since I live right next to a police station, I passed a suburban, a police suburban.
I thought about bailing as I saw them backing up towards me.
Then I was smart and stopped.
They pulled up, and, suprisingly, instead of chastizing me for running the light, which I was already verbaly appologizing for, they said they wanted to give me a bike light for the front.
They said They noticed I had one for the back, and wanted to give me one for the front.
I was honest, and told them I was just too lazy to put my front light on, and told them I had it one in my bag.
I reccomended they give it to the next bicylist they see, as I had lights, and they said they would, and drove off.
I don’t know if it is the TV coverage, or just nice cops, but , Instead of the 237 dollar ticket I expected plus the fact that I had a little buzz), They were trying to improve my bicyling.
I am not a lover of the police, but these guys were great.
I wish I knew their names, I would work hard to get them a raise.
You will hardly ever hear a messenger praise a policeman, so I am very serious here.
Our world seems to be changing.
For the better?
I think maybe so….
Officer Hoesly may play “a real nice guy” on TV but he most definately is not. I had a most unfortunate run-in with Mr Hoesly which will be placing the both of us in court shortly. Having had 4 positive interactions with police officers last year (2 of them for bicycle traffic violations (1 headlight, 1 red-light) this was a major step-back as far as I’m concerned. I now am 90% more likely to out run (as I easily can and have since Mr. Hosely) from a police office for fear of a similar encounter.