When the town’s 58th Annual Labor Day Parade steps off at 10 am on Monday, September 2, at the head of Main Street, there will be a new wrinkle.

The line of march will be led by tandem town police motorcyclists traveling on Harley-Davidson cruiser-style vehicles, emitting exhaust notes with a throaty rumble.

In the past, the parade was led by a single police motorcyclist or had no motorcycle escort. But this year, with two town policemen now qualified to ride, Patrol Officer Leonard Penna and Patrol Officer Timothy Schoen will be traveling in tandem, leading what many consider to be the best Labor Day parade in the state.

The two officers, who technically are known as “motormen,” comprise the department’s “motor unit.”

Other officers who have served as police motorcyclists leading the parade in the past are Administrative Sergeant Jeff Silver and the late Patrol Officer Steve Ketchum. Mr Ketchum served as the department’s first motorcyclist more than decade ago, after the department had acquired its first motorcycle.

Besides ceremonial uses, such as providing escorts for parades, funerals, and traveling VIP’s, police motorcyclists serve very practical purposes, such as speed patrols, in which an officer on a highly maneuverable vehicle equipped with speed-detection radar roves the landscape to stop speeders. To gauge motorists’ speed, the motorcyclists also may use “lidar,” a newer technology that employs a laser to gauge a vehicle’s speed while sighting it through a handheld viewfinder.

Recently, for speed enforcement, both police motorcyclists were simultaneously positioned along Toddy Hill Road, a north-south town street that links Sandy Hook to Botsford. Because they are small, compared to the sport-utility vehicles normally used by police, motorcycles are easier to hide, making it less likely that speeders are aware of their presence.

Following residents’ ongoing speeding complaints, police have focused much attention on Toddy Hill Road speeders, increasing officers’ speed patrols there and positioning electronic speed displays in that area. A traffic engineering study is underway on how the town can best control Toddy Hill road speeding.

Lieutenant Aaron Bahamonde, who heads the police department’s patrol division, oversees the motorcycle unit.

Police Chief James Viadero said the small size of motorcycles allows police to travel in areas where access is otherwise limited due to traffic congestion. The motorcycle unit is not in service full time, but only for special events and at times when sufficient police staffing allows their use for enforcement, he said.

Motormen

Ofc Penna, 42, who started work as a town policeman in 2002, rides a 2002 Road King. Ofc Schoen, 33, who began as a town policeman in 2013, rides a 2006 Electra Glide. The two motorcycles are similar mechanically, with some differences in paint color, windshields, and trim.

Patrolling on a motorcycle offers police great advantages in terms of their being able to see what is happening around them and also in terms of mobility, Ofc Schoen said.

The motor unit will spend a higher fraction of its time on the road in the summertime, when the weather is generally good, than in other seasons, said Ofc Penna.

The motor unit will ride year-round for events such as funerals but stays off the roads in the event of snow or sleet, noted Ofc Schoen.

During occasional traffic enforcement campaigns for seat belt compliance, illegal cellphone use, and illegal texting, being on a motorcycle allows an officer to see much more inside passing vehicles than would be visible from within a patrol SUV, according to the motor unit.

Ofc Schoen said that a police officer riding a motorcycle on patrol also serves as an “awesome public relations tool,” in that people nearby tend to become sociable with police, as compared to police traveling in SUVs, which have their windows rolled up.

Both town police motorcyclists fared quite well during their rigorous police motorcycle training. In 2018, Ofc Penna finished first in his class, as did Ofc Schoen in 2016. Such classes make good motorcyclists even better, teaching them finesse techniques, they said.

In those classes, riders learn how to ride 850-pound motorcycles very slowly, staying balanced and composed while traveling only one or two miles per hour. Riding very slowly is useful at parades, Ofc Schoen said. Police also learn special techniques to lift up a fallen motorcycle.

Although the motorcycle models used by police are large for a motorcycle, after suitable training, the vehicles become easy to maneuver, Ofc Penna said. “It’s an incredible bike for patrol. You become one with the bike. It’s very maneuverable,” he added.

Notably, in the past, Ofc Penna was in the police department’s bicycle patrol unit. He also served for many years as a school resource officer.

Both motormen said they travel to town parks on their patrols. Ofc Schoen said he likes to ride on the walkways that lead to the town’s public water storage tanks at Fairfield Hills. People that he encounters on those trails are happy to see police on patrol in the isolated area, he said.

Besides patrol work and ceremonial duties in town, the motor unit will sometimes go out of town for events, having traveled to Norwalk, Bridgeport, Westport, Fairfield, Greenwich, and Meriden.

Patrol Sergeant Douglas Wisentaner said that interaction between police and the public improves when police patrol on motorcycles rather than in SUVs. A bicycle patrol provides police with mobility, but a motorcycle patrol greatly increases the range and speed of travel, he said.

In the early days of policing in the US, police walked beats in designated areas; they later acquired motorcycles to increase their range, and later yet, they patrolled in cars, said Sgt Wisentaner.

Of the unit’s work, Lt Bahamonde commented, “I’m very proud of our motorcycle unit... The training that they go through is second to none.” The two officers’ work in speed enforcement on Toddy Hill Road was effective for speed control, he said.