Bikes just the business for Apec police patrols

By Dean Austen

Leather-clad bikers on souped-up, customised machines will have the run of Auckland streets during Apec.

Police yesterday took possession of 20 Honda ST1100 motorcycles - each costing about $25,000 - to be used during the conference in September.

The machines' main function will be supporting motorcades, including traffic control on motorway routes.

Inspector Sandy Newsome, the officer in charge of traffic for Apec, said the first of four five-day training courses for the 40 staff selected nationally for the motorcycle squad would begin in mid-July.

Training will include trail bike riding, coordination skills, high-speed braking and night rides.

Officers - who will be kitted out in $1500 worth of gear including radios built into helmets - will also spend time familiarising themselves with the bikes and motorway routes.

The machines will boost a two-wheeled law-and-order presence not seen on Auckland roads in great numbers since the days of the Ministry of Transport.

Motorcycle patrols were banned in 1985 when a traffic officer was badly injured in a high-speed crash on the North Shore.

Officers at the time cited handling and stability problems as reasons for the ban, which led the Ministry of Transport to withdraw about 650 bikes nationwide.