LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – As previously reported by Michigan News Source, the Michigan State Police (MSP) Motorcycle Unit has been disbanded. The unit, started in the 1920’s, was ended due to “operational” and “safety” issues.

The motorcycle unit had been used for things like traffic enforcement, presidential escorts, dignitary protection, the Labor Day Bridge Walk, PR events and parades. According to officer.com, motorcycle units offer a police agency options for special assignments, targeted patrols, community relations and more. They report the benefits as higher mobility, better maneuverability, faster pursuit time with faster acceleration and easier to hide for traffic enforcement.

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Motorcycles also cost less to purchase or lease, less to maintain, and they can get about twice the amount of miles per gallon in gas as opposed to a car. On the negative side, they cite the limited ability to carry equipment, a higher risk of injury with no safety devices like seat belts or airbags, and less visibility during the darkness. Overall, they feel that the motorcycle units are a valuable part of a police force.

According to sources close to the situation, the decision to disband the Motorcycle Unit was made with no studies or analysis done concerning safety or financials – and no deep dive into past operations or future repercussions. There was reportedly no consultation with anyone in the unit and everyone was pretty much “blindsided” by the decision.

Michigan News Source reached out to retired MSP Sergeant Richard Rothermel, who served for 27 years from 1972 to 1999 and was an instructor for troopers in patrol cars and also for the Motorcycle Unit. He said, “I was taken in the blind on this whole thing as were everybody involving the Motorcycle Unit in the department. The higher echelon never discussed this, never had meetings, never had anything. It was thrown at all of the motorcycle operators as well as their command structure right out of the blue.”

According to Rothermel, someone in the upper ranks met with the motorcycle unit and told them that effective that day, the unit was no longer and it was not open for discussion.

Rothermel said, “Everyone involved in the motorcycle unit…they had no knowledge of this…They were blindsided.”

When we asked the MSP for data that was used for the decision including surveys, safety information or a cost analysis, we were told by Shannon Banner, Public Affairs Manager of the Michigan State Police (MSP) “There is no data to share, as the unit was disbanded for the operational reasons I previously shared with you.”

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Those reasons, as shared in our last article, included information in her quote…”they are not as efficient as patrol vehicles, cannot operate year-round and due to the risk to riders. As policing continues to evolve and we work to make sure we are providing the best services while also safeguarding our members, the operational decision was made to disband this unit altogether given we can accomplish our mission using patrol vehicles and tactical bicycles, both of which pose less danger to our troopers.”

Rothermel doesn’t understand those reasons. He said, “Everything is a gamble, life included…two deaths over 30 years is not something that you want to throw away a functional unit for…”

In looking at some of the data provided by the MSP, two motorcycles troopers have died in the line of duty since 2015 and six additional ones since from 1922 to 1942. The full list of the 55 total fallen Michigan State Police officers are in the Fallen Troopers Memorial book and also includes seven officers killed in patrol car crashes from 1921 through 2021.

When asked about the history of the motorcycle unit, Rothermel said that MSP had a “ton” of motorcycles in the 1920’s, more than they had cars when they were evolving from using horses. The bikes were stationed throughout the state, including in the Upper Peninsula, and every fall they’d retrieve all the bikes and store them for winter in the headquarters in Lansing. He said they did that up until the fall of 1941. That was the year of the attack on Pearl Harbor and although he said there’s no documented history on what happened to the unit or the bikes after that, he has a friend who is a “departmental historian” who says the logical perception is that they gave the bikes to the service to be used in World War II.

So from the fall of 1941 until 1992, the MSP was without motorcycles in their department. In the summer of 1992, they had a three-month trial period that Rothermel was a part of. All of the troopers were trained by Harley-Davidson police motorcycle instructors during an intense training period and two troopers were also trained as police motorcycle instructors, including himself, so that if the program was successful, they could train their own motorcycle operators.

The 90-day trial program was highly successful, so in 1993 the MSP had a permanent motorcycle program that was initially just assigned to Southeast Michigan, mainly the Detroit area freeways, and it evolved over 30 years with some stationed in outlying post areas like Lansing and Grand Rapids and ended up with about 24 motor officers in the unit. During that time, additional safety measures were also put in place including going from a 3/4 open face helmet to a full face helmet with a chin bar and a face shield. They also went to armored gear so the troopers were better protected.

Rothermel said about the motorcycle accidents, “Functionally speaking went for 23 years before there was a fatal accident involving one of our riders.”

Rothermel is perplexed about the safety and operational issues that brought about the disbanding of the unit and was also curious if it would affect the MSP’s annual police vehicle and motorcycle evaluations.

The MSP has been testing patrol cars since the 1950’s along with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. They test them for suitability in their respective operations to validate the vehicle is capable of handling the stress associated with police pursuits – these tests include acceleration, top speed and braking.

In 2006, the MSP started testing motorcycles as well. Because of this, the MSP Motorcycle Unit ended up using BMWs instead of Harley-Davidson’s because they outperformed in every test including top speed and shorter breaking distance as well as outperforming in zero to 100 speed which Rothermel says is critical for a law enforcement agency. He said, “The quicker they can accelerate and get up to the violator, the less high speed exposure time they have.”

Rothermel said that for the last nine years that he was with the MSP, he was a patrol car instructor at the training facility for the precision driving unit. The last six of those years, he also was an instructor for motorcycle units. He said about the testing, “MSP has always done a national police vehicle test program annually. And those results are sent out to hundreds of police agencies in the nation.”

Unfortunately, Banner said that the testing of the motorcycles would be ending as well. She said, “Motorcycles will no longer be included in the Annual Police Vehicle Evaluation that we conduct.”

Sources who talked with Michigan News Source off the record don’t understand either the safety or operational reasons that the MSP mentioned in the disbanding of the unit – and losing the assistance with dignitary escorts was a concern.

Rothermel said that motorcycles are used in presidential and dignitary escorts because they are the only vehicle that functions well in them. They pass on the right of “the package” they are protecting and have a rolling leapfrog procession of motorcycles to block off intersections during escort. He said you can’t get enough patrol cars to block off intersections and it would also take police vehicles out of the communities that they are supposed to serve and protect. He said, “The Secret Service will tell you without motorcycle units, you won’t have a functional procession security wise.”

However, there are others who don’t see the disbanding of the MSP motor unit as a problem – and that’s possibly because other motorcycle units in the state could be picking up the slack. Chief Robert Stevenson (Ret), Executive Director of Michigan Association of Chiefs of Police doesn’t know how many motorcycle units there are in Michigan but said “Many of the state’s larger police agencies and Sheriff’s Offices have motor units.”

Matthew Saxton, CEO/Executive Director of Michigan Sheriffs’ Association does not have any concerns about MSP disbanding its motor unit. He said, “Sheriffs office operations across the state will not be affected by this change.”

And although some wonder about the effect it will have on the Labor Day Bridge which the Motorcycle Unit has been a part of, Lt. Derrick Carroll, Public Information Officer for the Michigan State Police 7th District in Gaylord said, “I don’t see it affecting the Bridge Walk.” He pointed out the bicycle unit that can get around in crowds and doesn’t see the disbanding as hampering the Bridge Walk although he said they’d have to replace the missing troopers to help with traffic.