From: behanna@phoenix.syl.nj.nec.com (Chris BeHanna)
Subject: CHP doesn't want helmet law, either
Followup-To: rec.motorcycles
Reply-To: behanna@syl.nj.nec.com
Organization: NEC Systems Laboratory, Inc.
Date: Wed, 16 Sep 92 03:46:06 GMT

Here's another interesting article:

From _Easyriders_ magazine, February 1992, pp. 116-117.  Reproduced w/o
permission (typos mine):

                   _Blue Moods behind the Blue Lights_

                                by Twiggy

  California never had a helmet law, but we will come January 1, 1992.
What's going to happen out here when the new helmet law goes into effect?

  That's the question a lot of people asked me.  "You drive an 18-wheeler,"
they said, "so you must talk to a lot of cops.  What are they gonna do about
the new helmet law?"

  Well, I'd been wondering the same thing, so I started asking around.

  I started with the California Highway Patrol (CHP) and talked to some 75
officers.  A few of them sincerely believe in helmets.  Others personally
endorse freedom of choice.  Either way, they're duty bound to enforce the
law--and they all wish they didn't have to.  They see the helmet law as
another burden.

  CHP officers regretfully expect the new law to generate a lot of hostility.
One female officer mentioned her brother, a long-time rider who's always
supported her as a CHP officer.  After the law passed, he called and said
they'd come to a parting of the ways.  In no way was he going to wear a
helmet.

  "My brother's never been in trouble with the law in his life," she said.
"Now, he's going to become an 'outlaw' over this helmet thing.  He really
made me ask myself what good I am supposed to be doing by enforcing the helmet
law.

  Other CHP officers repeated her theme.  "This helmet law puts the CHP into
direct confrontation with law-abiding motorcyclists," said one, "and from what
I hear over the grapevine, it's going to create an absolute mess."

  He went on to say that too many riders know too well that the helmet law has
nothing to do with saving lives.  Once Assemblyman Richard Floyd, who
sponsored the bill, admitted that he used false figures to argue for the
helmet law, and once Governor Pete Wilson said he'd sign the law despite the
fact that it was baed on false numbers, many riders were disgusted by the
political system.

  "too many people out there are just flat pissed-off," the Bay Area officer
said, "and they're willing to go 'outlaw' over it.  And the CHP expects us to
fight the battle on the highways.  My own commander, who hasn't been behind
the wheel of a unit in years, told us to 'Just get out there and do it.' Sure,
sure."

  In contrast to the anger expressed by the Bay Area CHP, three CHP officers
from the Imperial Valley area had a simple solution:  just ignore the law--at
least, as much as possible.  One officer gave this example:  If he saw one
rider among a group without a helmet, he would look the other way.  When 
pressed on the point, he said, "It's not worth our time to enforce a law that
the general biker population has no respect for."  His CHP bros agreed.

  A lot of CHP motorcycle cops own bikes of their own, and many of them
reject helmets.  These anti-helmet officers see a different kind of problem
arising from the helmet law:  dead bikers.

  "I've been riding for 12 years," an officer from Sacramento said.  "When I
bought my first ride (a Honda) the dealer told me I had to wear a helmet to
be 'safe.'  I bought the helmet, and about five days later, I went to make a
lane change and almost got wiped out by a car passing on the left--a car I 
couldn't see and never heard.  I took that helmet off and haven't worn one
since.

  "Now, if we make all riders wear helmets, if we hamper their hearing while
they're riding, we're going to have bikers falling left and right.  Even
experienced riders will have trouble, because wearing a helmet is so
contrary to their experience--and this is Governor Wilson's idea of safety?
It's going to kill people--and I"m supposed to enforce it?  Thank you Governor
Wilson."

  Beyond the arguments for or against helmets, other CHP officers said the
timing of the law couldn't have been worse.  "We had the Rodney King thing in
L.A.," said one, "and that soured people on the police.  Then, we had a
series of civil suits against cops--and the juries penalized the hell out of
the cops every time.  The public is mad at us, and now we have to go out and
make them even madder."

  "So what are you going to do about it?"  I asked a "good cop" from San
Diego, a man with over 20 years in the CHP.

  "Retire," he said.  "Get out.  The job just isn't worth the risk."

  "Risk?"  I asked.  "What do you mean?"

  "Violence," he said.  "They guys who ride bare-headed aren't kids.  They
run from 30 to 60 years old.  They've been around.  As a peace officer, I'm
scared."

  "You mean, you're afraid of what the 'outlaws' might do?"

  "Not the 'outlaws'," he said.  "The 'outlaws' aren't stupid.  They won't
start a war with the CHP.  WHat I'm afraid of is the ordinary guy who goes
over the edge.  You pull someone over 'cause he's not wearing a helmet, and
that just happens to be the last straw for the guy that day, so he goes
apeshit and pulls out some iron and starts blasting away.  A lot of that
kind of thing happend after the 55-mph speed limit went into effect."

  "That means we'll have cops blasting back," I reminded.

  "Yes," he said, "and that worries me just as much.  We have a lot of gung-
ho, officers who are hungry for advancement.  I'm afraid we're going to have
a lot of dead bikers and a lot of dead cops--and all from a helmet law
that's supposed to make you 'safe'."

  "Do you know of any others who are quitting?" I wondered.

  "Two others," he said, "but that's all I know of.  Most of them have to
stick it out, or lose the benefits they've accumulated.  If we'd gotten a
helmet law eight years ago, when Floyed first tried it, I probably would have
stayed in, too."

  So the helmet law will cost the CHP three veteran patrolmen, and maybe
others we don't know about.

  The CHP, of course, can't speak for, or represent, the attitudes of local
police or county sheriff's departments.  To find out what they thought, I
started right at home, in Lompoc.  Our police chief, Bob Hebert, is a 26-year
veteran who runs a deparment of 42 officers.

  Chief Hebert sees himself as a professional committed to enforcing the
law, whatever it is.  "If we see a motorcycle rider without a helmet," he
says, "we'll give him a ticket.  That's all there is to it."

  "Suppose," I asked, "that 500 bikers rode through town as a protest, and
none of them had a helmet.  What then?"

  "Well," he said, "we know better than to bite off more than we can chew.  If
there are more Indians than cowboys, we'll back off."

  What about the county sheriffs?

  If the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Department is any example, they'll be
just as vigorous.  Tim Gracey, public information officer, says the Department
will begin enforcing the law the minute it goes into effect--and that he
expects "the paper will fly."

  So traffic tickets will be flying around like a ticker-tape parade.  Then
what?

  Christie Schultz, Assistant District Attorney for North Santa Barbara
County says, "Nothing," as far as her office is concerned.  "Helmet violations
will be 'infractions'," she reminded me.  "The case will be heard by a judge
and the DA's office won't be involved at all--unless a rider stopped for
violating the helmet law has outstanding warrants."

  Think about that one.  Right now, if you have an outstanding warrant for a
minor offense, a cop won't find out unless he stops you.  But he can't stop
you without "probable cause"--and riding bareheaded will constitute probable
cause.

  "What if," I asked, "a hundred bikers rode up to the police station without
helmets to get themselves arrested as a form of protest?"  Could the court
system handle that many?"  Schultz said she had complete faith in the ability
of the court system to handle even massive instances of civil disobedience.

  Obviously, we'd be better off if we could just get rid of the law before it
goes into effect.  ABATE of California has hired a law firm to challenge the
law.

  Maybe this should be our New Year's resolution:  Join ABATE and add our dues
to the legal fund.  Register to vote.  Write letters to our reps in the
assembly.  Write letters to local newspapers.  Speak up on the radio and TV.

  WE can't leave ABATE alone.
-- 
Chris BeHanna	DoD# 114  KotHLF    1983 H-D FXWG Wide Glide (She lives!)
behanna@syl.nj.nec.com	            (I need another bike for this space!)

Disclaimer:  Now why would NEC agree with any of this anyway?
Newsgroups: rec.motorcycles