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SLO adds two bike cops to downtown patrol

January 3, 2014

policeThe San Luis Obispo Police Department has assigned two officers the duty of patrolling the downtown area by bicycle. [KSBY]

On Thursday, the police department added two bicycle officers to its downtown patrol, which already exists of two Community Action Team (CAT) officers.

The CAT officers are responsible for focusing on combating homeless and transient issues, while the bicycle officers will focus on illegal activity downtown, including theft and traffic violations.

“This is our core down here. This is what makes the city thrive is the downtown,” said bicycle officer Brent Ingelhart. “Our goal as a police department is to reach out to the community to partner with the businesses down here, but also to provide a police presence and make people safe.”

 


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Oops, somehow my punctuation got screwed up/!?);()!


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I totally agree?.. Why are motorcycles permitted to be louder than giant semi trucks or equipment working a construction site!


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“This is what makes the city thrive is the downtown.” Goodness, give us a break. Does this guy work for the citizens of SLO, or for the Chamber of Commerce? He’d better get straight who pays his salary lest he offend us and make us vote against renewal of Measure Y which pays his pay.


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Kinda funny how police officers on bicycles went from a community policing/friendly PR gesture to a necessary vehicle for anti-transient patrol and response. Sorry, just reminiscing about SLO with 2 to 4 officers on duty and me fishing barefoot in the creek.


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Four officers dedicated to downtown Happy Town. What does this say about the activities of some of its finer citizens and the safety of others? That is a lot of financial support for one sector of SLO. Obviously the majority of its citizens know how to behave and live as members of a society.


Go ahead, build that nice big homeless shelter and bring the herds to Happy Town so we can hire more police, impact the courts, the prisons and of course our citizens.


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You need to take that rant to the state or federal levels. Cities just have to play with the hand dealt them. As to the “financial support for one sector”, that is ludicrous. The homeless are downtown, where the action is. Do you expect the police to just drive around residential neighborhoods where nothing is happening and ignore the mess downtown?


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Obispan, I expect the police to maintain ORDER, across the board. We’re angry enough that they follow OFFICIAL SLOPD chief’s 2011 policy memo to IGNORE and NEVER CITE the thunderous illegally modified exhaust Harley thugs. (That memo to City Council and officers to ignore loud bikes from what’s her name, the departed chief, has NEVER been REPUDIATED NOR withdrawn. Even Ashbaugh was stunned by it).


Thunderous pointless intentional noise is officially welcomed in downtown.


I laugh when I see CalCoast juxtaposes these two articles on police bicycle officers and “Restaurant Month”. With thuggish noise echoing off the buildings and our overpaid motor cops on “official ignore”, WHO CARES about eating (or fishing in a creek in happy times) with the noise? We abandoned downtown dining a long time ago.


You are fooling yourself if you think the SLOPD responds to your thoughts on quality of life. Even us newcomers (1950’s) know they don’t.


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Wow! I really wish you and others who are complaining about this problem could see yourselves from the eyes of a third person. Are you SERIOUS? I walk from my home to downtown all the time, and MAYBE once a day a thunderous motorcycle rolls by. How much does this irritate me and affect my day so much that it becomes a concern? Never.


That is why the memo is ignored, because for the most part… no one else cares. RELAX man! (and no, I do not drive one of these motorcycles)


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Kaney, take a moment and read this: I was told “nobody cares” by a LE traffic supervisor, I figured I should listen to him, so I took a clipboard with a one sentence “we’re tired of the abuse and request vigorous enforcement of motorcycle exhaust noise laws” and stood in front of a supermarket. I RAN OUT of petition space in under an hour, not having printed enough sheets. Some signers were highly vocal, wanted to know how they could help more, were angry over the disruption of life, sleeping grandkids, etc. Many stated they’d called in complaints also. There are national websites decrying the damage to peace quiet, and sleep.


Harley President McCaslin asks riders not to modify; the AMA website says (paraphrasing) that “modified pipe noise harms motorcycling in the eyes of the public more than anything else”. STILL THINK nobody cares?


Just because you are walking and awake and don’t mind the noise doesn’t mean other quality citizens might be tired of the PENETRATION of their homes, the sleep areas of their grandchildren, their peace at a curbside outdoor café. Or maybe we WANT something for our $9,800 a year in property taxes?


In addition, it’s against federal and state law (40CFR205(d), 27150CVC, 415(b)PC)


I will “RELAX man” when I get my peace and quiet back from the sociopathic “look at me” nutjobs who claim crap like “it’s for my safety”, “it came from the factory”, or “I ride for kids and donate a crappy five buck toy on a Toy Ride so I’m entitled to shake every home I ride past”.


Think of others, Kaney. There are lots of issues in life, but these cretins MESS via penetration with the lifestyle and peace of others, wholesale, with every mile they ride.


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If all the motorcycle noise went away, would you then feel like you live in peace? Or would you just start noticing other sounds more? I agree that it is inconsiderate but there are so many inconsiderate things that people do all day long that I really try to notice the things I enjoy and laugh off the things that annoy. I understand there is a limit to this and if these guys were riding up and down the street all day long, then it might be time to do something, I guess we just differ on the point at which it demands attention.


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In answer to your question, if all the illegal modification cycle noise went away, and my family could sleep, recreate, and dine with common and necessary sounds, NO, I wouldn’t just notice more. I am not a sufferer of vibroacoustic sensitivity, I’m a selfish lout who dislikes disrupted 4:30am sleep (when the first modified daily commuter roars by, like clockwork). I’m a greedy real-estate investor who WANTS SOME SERVICE from the cops I send nearly ten grand a year to. And, I am viciously protective of the sleep environment of members of my family. Criticize me if you wish.


I think it demands attention because of the proven (United States CDCP, Atlanta, GA; National Institutes of Health studies) health impacts including cardiovascular disease from disrupted sleep, because it is against laws on the books since the 1970’s, and is a pointless noise pollution conducted by a small, sociopathic and self-absorbed childlike segment of the population.


Not to belabor the point, and I can observe your sense of balance, but go DINE downtown or lay in the Morro sand or walk the Embarcadero on a warm sunny day. Spend a night at our place near the water. You will observe what you mention, “riding up and down the street all day long”.


Bottom line: the cops do NOTHING. Zero cites. They should exert some balanced and effective enforcement energy on this like any other safety and health related enforcement issue.


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Yeah, you confirmed my original feelings with your description of losing sleep from these loud commuters. First, I live by the train station, so don’t talk to me about noise! lol I don’t even notice it any more. Also, you should take into consideration such hypersensitivity to noise before you purchase a house near a main street or within earshot of loud traffic noise. I really wonder how you would handle the Amtrak that starts up its engines at 4:30am, about an hour after the large freight train rolls through.


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Exactly Slobird! And Adam Hill the supervisor representing the SLO district wants desperately to build a homeless campus in the city limits to attract more homeless and create more problems for the city. Wake up residents of SLO, Adam Hill does not have SLO’s best interests at heart, rather he has his own personal agenda!


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Boondoggle…


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