Dec 09 2008
Bicyclists and Portland Police
My mother decided she wanted to purchase my dad a police scanner for Christmas. No big deal except she has no knowledge about the devices (neither did I), wanted me to research and purchase the scanner for her. Has anyone had experience with such a device? To make it truly useful and understandable I needed to reprogram it with local frequencies using my computer and in the process I tested it. This where I became somewhat interested in it.
On Sunday and Monday evenings while I was reprogramming and testing it I was listening to the Portland Police. What surprised me was how many bicyclist the Portland Police stop in a night. 
More surprising was the attitude I was hearing over the air from the police towards the bicyclists as they were being called in. One officer was obviously looking for something to ticket the cyclist for and called in to find out whether he could write a ticket for a cyclist not having a rear brake. He stated he observed a cyclist on a fixie without a rear brake, skid his rear wheel to stop. He stated the bike had a front brake but had no rear brake and wanted to know can he cite this cyclist? The dispatcher checked and reported a Sergent said the cyclist was legal as long as he had a front brake. The officer responded with an, “Affirmative, I guess I will have to let him go.” You could hear by the tone in the officer’s voice he was disappointed he could not ticket the cyclist.
This was one of many calls I heard regarding bicyclists during the course of the evening while I was reprogramming and testing my dad’s Christmas gift. I did not hear this type of conversations between dispatch and officers regarding automobiles. It left me wondering if Portland Police officers are aggressively enforcing laws regarding bicyclist? If so, why? Could one of the reasons be bicyclists are an outspoken voice in the Portland community? Does this stem from a large part of the community being auto centric?
I have never been stopped, but I have had Portland Police officers give me the once over look as I have ridden passed them on my ride home at night. Now I wonder if they were just doing their job or looking for something to hassle a bicyclist over?
If I screw up go ahead and cite me, but if it is about hassling me they will learn quickly I will file complaints, go to court, and be a major pain in the ass for them. It is not about the money with me, it is about the principal.
I’ve experienced the same prejudice in the UK. I was twice the victim of a hit-and-run, and both times the police were more interested in telling me about how they think cyclists break the law than in chasing the driver. I didn’t bother wasting my time with trying to get them to take seriously the more minor incidents.
I somehow think there is a different attitude here in NL. I’ve not yet had even the most minor altercation with a Dutch driver, such things don’t tend to happen, but from what I’ve seen of them investigating the few minor crimes that have happened here since we moved, I am sure that in the eventuality that something does happen, they will investigate thoroughly.
Sorry to hear about such negative attitude from the police. Here in Wales I rarely see a policeman, except in cars driving by.
I have been stopped twice by police officers. In one of those cases it was pretty obvious that this officer “had it in” for cyclists. I was riding my bike along a road often used by bicycles. A car passed me and it came much closer than most cars do. I then noticed it was a police car. I believe it was that same officer who then stalked me to try and find a reason to stop me.