County hog-wild over motor unit
Sheriff department's new motorcycle squad aids in crackdown on DUI
By Ivan Delventhal
One recent afternoon, several Alameda County sheriff's deputies straddled their motorcycles at the Eden Township Substation and brought the glistening Harleys to life with a deafening rumble.
In the past, it would have been safe to assume that the deputies had finished their shifts and were heading home for the day on their own bikes.
But on this Thursday, the uniformed deputies on the brand-new department-issued Harley-Davidson Road Kings were readying to go "10-8," or in service, as members of a recently created sheriff's motorcycle unit like to say.
The sheriff's motor squad -- formally known as the DUI/Cover unit -- is the first of its kind for the agency.
The unit officially began operating on Sept. 1 after two months of classroom and on-the-road training, and motorcycle deputies made 40 DUI arrests during the inaugural month, officials said.
Capt. Rich Lucia, who helped usher the unit into existence, said that having a dedicated corps of motorcycle deputies gives the sheriff's office a versatile new tool.
"They are like a highly mobile mini-strike team," Lucia said. "When our deputies are looking for suspects or chasing somebody on foot, they're able to get to the area quickly and assist in apprehending suspects."
The motor unit, which operates from 3 p.m. to 1 a.m. seven days a week, consists of one sergeant and seven deputies. Three deputies generally work each 10-hour shift.
Key duties
As the name suggests, the new unit has two main responsibilities. First, it patrols the unincorporated areas with a special emphasis on arresting drunken drivers. Second, the deputies act as cover units, assisting patrol deputies on all kinds of calls.
On a recent Thursday, three motor deputies patrolled both East 14th Street in unincorporated San Leandro as well as Castro Valley Boulevard and made stops for everything from speeding to seat belt violations.
None of those pulled over were drunk, but they got tickets.
Lucia emphasized that, while they're not a traffic unit, the
motor deputies must make routine traffic stops to fulfill their mission of arresting intoxicated motorists.
"You can't look for drunken drivers without looking for traffic violators -- they go hand in hand," Lucia explained. "If you're sitting on a corner and see someone go through a red light, you're not going to ignore that."
Origins of the unit
While a motor unit had been considered in the past, Sheriff Plummer began seriously contemplating the creation of a specialized DUI enforcement team about five years ago.
Back then, if a deputy stopped a suspected drunken driver, he or she would call the California Highway Patrol to take the person away, a process that sometimes tied up a deputy for hours.
Plummer found the system inefficient, Lucia said, so the sheriff's office began training some of its own deputies in how to conduct field sobriety tests and use various testing equipment.
Today, Lucia said, the Alameda County Sheriff's Office ranks behind only the CHP among law enforcement agen
cies in Alameda County in the numbers of drunken-driving arrests during annual crackdowns.
All the men in the motor unit -- no women applied -- came from patrol assignments, Lucia said. Fifteen deputies applied for seven spots on the unit.
Of those accepted, some had ridden motorcycles in the past; others hadn't.
One veteran recruited for the unit is Deputy Tom Rodrigues, who rode a bike for the Hayward Police Department for 26 years before retiring in June.
The costs
The motorcycle unit likely will feel no effects of budget woes for at least several years because it is paid for through state and federal grants, Lucia said.
Personnel costs associated with the unit, specifically salaries and benefits, run about $800,000 per year, Lucia said, and the sheriff's office secured a federal Community Oriented Policing Services grant that is expected to cover those expenses for three years.
The costs of the eight motorcycles and associated safety and communications equipment added up to about $150,000, paid for through a state law enforcement grant, according to Lucia.
On the streets
Sgt. Dave Brady, who supervises the motorcycle unit and also rides a bike, said he is
grateful for the new assignment.
"I need freedom," Brady said in explaining his passion for being on a bike. "I don't do well trapped behind a desk."
He said that of the 40 people arrested on suspicion of DUI in September, most had a blood alcohol level of 0.20 or higher; the legal limit is 0.08. The unit wrote about 900 tickets in its first month.
Brady said he expects the unit to average about 30 DUI arrests per month. The number was higher in September because the Labor Day weekend included a heightened enforcement period.
But their duties encompass more than looking for drunken drivers, known as "deuces" in police jargon.
A case in point occurred just last week. A motorcycle deputy, a 16-year veteran, happened on the scene of a robbery and shooting in Ashland. When the armed robbery suspect raised his gun toward the deputy, the deputy opened fire, wounding the gunman and taking him into custody, according to reports.
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