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VEHICLES Start your engines Interested in starting up a motor unit? Enlist the help of an existing unit and get their advice on how to get started. Try the different bikes, then buy them. Get trained on them, and go to work. Training needs to be placed at the same level of importance as obtaining the staff, motors and equipment. "My best piece of advice is to not start a unit without the funding and commitment for training—basic and ongoing, says Deputy Randy " Wiessinger, Dane County (Wi.) Sheriff's Office. "Starting a motor unit is a significant challenge…there are a ton of resources out there to help identify the needs, show the benefits, develop the proposal, identify the equipment, write policies, etc. But if the agency administration is at all tempted to do everything except the training, I would simply say abandon the proposal. " us to work high traffic areas and stop the aggressive drivers. With the motorcycle's ability to split lanes and such, cars are not able to be effective and take a proactive approach like we are. College football is a huge attraction here and motorcycles are used to clear roadways and provide escorts. Just recently we had large tornados devastate the Oklahoma City area and motor units were used to escort emergency units and equipment into the hardest hit areas." The evolution of motors: Training Motor unit training is an area that has really developed in recent times. It's not enough to give officers motorcycles to ride. They have to be trained in a law enforcement-specific way. "Ten years ago, we had no special tactical training for motor officers, and today we do," says Dane County Sheriff's Office's Wiessinger. "We have now developed a Circle 52 on Reader Service Card www.officer.com November 2013 Law Enforcement Technology 17