13 WTHR - Indianapolis News |State Police bring in cycles for patrols

State Police bring in cycles for patrols

Alex Sanz/Eyewitness News

Central Indiana, Oct. 1 - For us, Central Indiana's heavy traffic is a fact of life. For the State Police it is a headache.

That's the main reason they're moving from four wheels to two.

The four new motorcycles, on loan from Harley Davidson, cost thousands less than full-size cruisers and get better gas mileage. They offer quicker response times to clogged accident scenes and they help officers track down speeders.

State Police Superintendent Melvin Carraway says, "The idea is that now we just have a very much more mobile officer than ever before.

"I mean, literally, that's what it's about. As traffic has changed, as volume of traffic in Central Indiana has changed, we have to change the way we do our enforcement in that regard."

The motorcycles bring back memories of the 1930s, the last time State Police officers patrolled the streets on two wheels.

Officers like Corporal Michael Capicik tell you the new crop of Harleys, arguably, are better. "You will hear that siren. That is one of the biggest attention-getters for us.

Officers spent two weeks in training at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Corporal Capicik says, "Many times we dropped the bike over. And a lot of us got bruised up and banged up and it was really, really mentally intense."

Nearly 20 veteran State Police officers trained on the motorcycles. If it is successful the program will expand sometime next year.

Officers will put the motorcycles to work in the coming days across the Indianapolis area.