8/14/2019 Call Recap: Working with Police for Smarter Enforcement

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Working with Police for Smarter EnforcementAlliance for Biking & Walking Mutual Aid CallWednesday, October 9, 2013

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Biking- and walking-riendly laws are important, but legal protections or bikers and walkers is only as effec-

tive as the enorcement o those laws. How can biking and walking advocates work with police departmentsto ensure that all people receive air, lawul, and sae protection on community streets? On this call, advocatesdiscussed how they have implemented innovative ways to work with police departments or smart law en-orcement or active transportation.

Recap: Advice from Peter Flucke

President, WE Bike, etc.

As a ormer police officer whose career included a street beat in Minnesota, a periodas a park ranger, and ounding one o the first police bike patrols in Minnesota, Peter is

uniquely qualified to explain the police officers perspective or cycling advocates wo big obstacles to bicycle and pedestrian saety enorcement rom cops:

Officers wont enorce laws they dont know or cant deend raffic to cops means cars; many officers dont receive training in bike and pedes-

trian saety

Advocates have an uphill battle when building relationships with police officers. Petersuggests asking the police, What is the leading cause o pedestrian or bicycle crashes inyour community? Tey probably wont know; ollowing up on that question this is yourwindow or urther dialogue.

In 2002, MassBike received a large NHSA grant to develop an extensive police trainingprogram. Tey responded enthusiastically, developing a comprehensive 54-page reer-ence guide and a multi-day training curriculum or police officers. In retrospect, Mass-Bike realize that their reerence guide and training curriculum were too detailed and tootime-consuming to achieve much traction in the law enorcement community. It alsodidnt take into account the act that officers came on-shifand were thereore availableor trainingat several different times o day.

Afer a new 2009 statewide law finally made it possible to adopt a uniorm citation or alorms o traffic inractions, including bicyclist inractions and enorcement o bicycle-related laws. MassBike is now working on a revised and condensed training programconsisting o a short video that can be shown at roll call at the beginning o any shif.

MassBike has elicited significant support rom the law enorcement community, in largepart because o the crash data that it was able to present. Tis data captured the officersattention by highlighting the large and growing number o crashes and atalities andpinpointing where they were happening and what types o crashes occurred.

Recap: Advice from David Watson

Executive Director,MassBike

http://webike.org/http://massbike.org/http://massbike.org/http://webike.org/

8/14/2019 Call Recap: Working with Police for Smarter Enforcement

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Working with Police for Smarter EnforcementAlliance for Biking & Walking Mutual Aid CallWednesday, October 9, 2013

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Additional Resources

Eileens written tips from Austin

MassBike Background Research- Background research or MassBikes law enorcementtraining video

Continuum of Training Executive Summary A summary o WEBike, etc.s extensivepolice officer training program

Interview questions A list o guiding questions or MassBike employees to use when

discussing bike saety with law enorcement officials.

Te city o Austin, Xs cycling advocacy community had some unique opportunities topromote better cooperation between the cycling and law enorcement communities in2008. First, the city had just completed an 18-month task orce with recommended ac-tions in response to recent cycling atalities. Second, the Austin Police Department hadjust hired a new chie, who was tasked with improving community relations afer recenthigh-profile atalities and perceived harassment o cyclists.

Afer a serendipitous encounter in a bike shop, cycling advocates pulled together toorganize the first-ever public Chat with the Chie to address cycling enorcement is-

sues. Tis event was careully choreographed among the five main advocacy groups anddesigned not to appear as an attack on the police department.

Te chat was so successul that it is now an annual event, and the cooperative relation-ship between the cycling and law enorcements communities has led to several success-ul new awareness and action campaigns.

Eileens takeaways: Keep asking until you find the right champion. Advocates must be willing to put work into the project, including finding unding. Its important to be persistent in order to keep projects moving. Staying positive and cooperative in order to achieve the final goal is critical.

Advocates and cyclists must share responsibility with motorists or good road behav-ior.

Recap: Advice from Eileen SchaubertCycling Consultant, Educator and Advocate

http://www.peoplepoweredmovement.org/site/images/uploads/Alliance_Tip_Sheet_Law_Enforce_Schaubert.pdfhttp://www.peoplepoweredmovement.org/site/images/uploads/BackgroundResearch.pdfhttp://www.peoplepoweredmovement.org/site/images/uploads/Continuum_of_Training_Exec_Summary.pdfhttp://www.peoplepoweredmovement.org/site/images/uploads/InterviewQs.pdfhttp://www.peoplepoweredmovement.org/site/images/uploads/InterviewQs.pdfhttp://www.peoplepoweredmovement.org/site/images/uploads/Continuum_of_Training_Exec_Summary.pdfhttp://www.peoplepoweredmovement.org/site/images/uploads/BackgroundResearch.pdfhttp://www.peoplepoweredmovement.org/site/images/uploads/Alliance_Tip_Sheet_Law_Enforce_Schaubert.pdf