Blurry lines between bikers, police clubs draw concerns

Associated Press

CONCORD, N.H.

Police officers and outlaw biker gangs often stand on common ground. Both attract the young and adventurous who value order, discipline and brotherhood. And on weekends, thousands of cops routinely trade their cruisers and badges for choppers and club colors.

The bond doesn’t mean a free pass for criminal motorcycle gangs, but even some within law enforcement worry that too many officers believe bikers are just misunderstood Robin Hoods. And empathy from officers who emulate or even aspire to the outlaw life can put police or the public at risk, gang experts warn.

“They’re supposed to be putting them in jail, not schmoozing with them, not socializing with them,” said Charlie Fuller, a retired special agent with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

The relationship between police and criminal biker gangs – dubbed Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs or 1 percenters because they are said to represent the fraction of motorcycle enthusiasts who operate outside the law – came into focus after the May 17 shootout involving rival gang members, including a retired San Antonio police officer, that left nine people dead in Waco, Texas.

Police on hand at the meeting fired at least some of the shots once violence erupted, but a photo showing some of the dozens the arrested bikers sitting calmly on curbs using cellphones under seemingly nonchalant police guard earned the ire of critics. Some wondered if police went easy on the bikers.

A 2014 ATF report said biker gangs count working police officers, firefighters and 911 workers as members. The report details a California Highway Patrol dispatcher listening to the scanner and tipping off her husband, a Hells Angel prospect, that the police were headed to a fight he was involved in. The husband took off before the cops arrived.

In New York City, Detective Wojciech Braszczok is on trial, charged with joining a mass of angry motorcyclists who assaulted an SUV driver during a wild highway chase in 2013. Braszczok said he didn’t intervene because he thought it could compromise his unrelated undercover work.

The gulf between outlaw biker gang and motorcycle club is vast, and the great majority of the law enforcement or veterans clubs perform community services year round, such as delivering toys at Christmas or the Patriot Guard Riders, who provide a rumbling motorcade – and a buffer against protesters – at the funerals of fallen soldiers.

Still, Laconia police Chief Chris Adams, whose New Hampshire town will attract hundreds of thousands of bikers to its annual Motorcycle Week starting Saturday, said he has seen some officers transform when they’re wearing club colors instead of their uniform.

“Some of them won’t look at you or talk to you,” Adams said. He called the fuzzy lines between police and bikers a “valid concern.”

Adams said his department maintains a “working relationship” with the region’s dominant motorcycle gang, the Hells Angels, to address problems big and small.