The

Police Motor Officer Division

   The City of Sturgis has had a Police Motorcycle for many years using a Kawasaki K1000 (on display now at the Motorcycle Museum), but it wasn't until 1992 did the Department get serious about a Motorcycle Division. At that time Chief Jim Bush and Black Hills Harley Davidson in Rapid City decided to work out a mutual agreement that the City of Sturgis would enter into. This consisted of  a renewable, yearly contract with Black Hills Harley Davidson who agreed to furnish the Sturgis Police Department with two brand new FLH Road King Harley Davidson Motorcycles to use throughout the summer months. The City of Sturgis would be responsible for providing maintenance of the motorcycles and insuring them, and in return the City would have free use of these motorcycles until fall, at which time they would be returned to Harley Davidson for resale. This has proven to be very successful and has revitalized the Motor Officer division of the Sturgis Police Department. We have grown from 2 motor officers in 1992, to 11 in 2005. As you can see above, we have also needed to add 2 more motorcycles to our patrol (we now use four) because of the rally as well as before and after it. The Officers must go through a rigorous 40 hour course originally administered at the Police Academy in Pierre, SD. All Officers that go through this training do this on a volunteer basis because they love motorcycle riding. We now provide the training through our own Police Department where we currently have one Certified Motorcycle Instructor, Sgt. Mike O'Bryan. The current Certified Motor Officers with "Wings" are:

The Sturgis Police Department has continued to receive these motorcycles every year since 1992 and pictured above are the Motorcycles we received in 2002. We started receiving "Black" Motorcycles in 2001 which seems to be preferred by most people over the white ones. Thanks to Black Hills Harley Davidson in Rapid City. They are  the FLHI Road King Models (the "I" stands for fuel Injected,  a model  we started receiving in 1996) and come fully equipped with lights and siren. In 1999, Sturgis started receiving 4 Harley Davidson Road Kings due to the growth of the Motorcycle Rally. They have become a necessary part of our patrol during that time.