The Moose Jaw Police Service used a police motorcycle in the early and mid 1900’s. Sgt Robert Bell rode the last motorcycle, in 1963, used primarily for summons delivery and leading parades. It was a Harley Davidson 45 with a suicide shift. It was called suicide shift because the left hand had to let go of the handlebars to manually change gears, leaving only the right hand to control the motorcycle.

After close to 40 years, the Moose Jaw Police Service decided to purchase another motorcycle. As the Saskatchewan Police Act dictates that law enforcement vehicles have a manufacturers police package, we were limited in our selection. Only two companies build a police package motorcycle - Harley Davidson and BMW.

The closest BMW dealer is in Winnipeg but there are several Harley Davidson dealers in Saskatchewan.  The Harley Davidson dealer in Regina offered the best deal for a price that, including the emergency equipment and radar, was well below what a civilian would pay for the same model. There was even a guaranteed buy back price which made the deal even better. Early in 2002 the Moose Jaw Police Service ordered a FLHR Road King Harley Davidson motorcycle that arrived on August 1, 2002. Our order had been placed early in the year to make it fourth off the assembly line for the 2003 edition Harley Davidson 100th anniversary.

For the first three months of service, only Sgt. Terry Phillips operated the motorcycle with the primary function being enforcement. There was enough revenue in those three months to return the money spent on the purchase of the motorcycle and emergency equipment.

In 2003 the motorcycle was assigned to the Traffic Safety Unit. Three members of the Unit received training for safe handling of the motorcycle in the spring with another two trained in the fall.

Since being assigned to the Traffic Safety Unit the motorcycle has been used for other events that include:

This motorcycle has also proven to be a useful tool when assisting Patrol Unit members for some investigations as it can go where a car cannot. The only limitations to the motorcycle are inclement weather and the inability to transport prisoners.

Cpl. Dennis Wilson

Moose Jaw Police Service


(Visit http://www.mjpolice.ca/Police%20motorcycle.htm for original article including pictures)