Police Motorcycles and Harley Davidson A Short History The the past of Harley-Davidson Police and Fleet sales is extensive and rich - and more or less as old as the Motor Company itself. Before there was even a commercially produced Harley-Davidson V-Twin, policemen were patrolling on Harley-Davidson® motorbikes. Through the monetary ups and downs of the Motor Company's history, the police and fleet businesses have helped maintain the Harley-Davidson trade name successful. The Beginning The original Harley-Davidson police motorcycle was delivered to the Detroit Police Department in 1908. Right from the launch, police departments recognized the tactical improvement provided by a maneuverable vehicle such as a motorbike along with Harley-Davidson's repute for reliability. Through the Teens Harley-Davidson motorbikes accompanied General John J. "Black Jack" Pershing in the quest of Pancho Villa after he attacked Columbus, NM in 1916. Harley-Davidson motorcycles proved their importance as military hardware. Shortly after the Mexican raid, the U.S. was drawn into World War I - as were roughly speaking 20,000 Harley-Davidson motorbikes. Motorbikes were a huge aid in dispatching communication before the arrival of dependable radio communications. Most of these motorbikes had sidecars which could be fitted with machine-gun mounts if wanted. The Roaring '20s Back on the home front in the 1920s, state police forces were being created in numerous states to protect rural areas from mayhem and to impose Prohibition. The power-driven instrument of preference on rutted rural roads was the motorbike. In 1921, six troopers kick-started their Harley-Davidson motorcycles and the Washington state troopers were in business. In those days, taking into account the area officers had to cover, a bike needed to be dependable. In Louisiana, for instance, a strength of only 16 men on motorcycles patrolled the entire state. By 1920, Harley-Davidson was the largest motorcycle manufacturer in the world. As mass construction increased the numbers of cars and motorbikes on the street, and nearly all speed restrictions were not enforced, highway fatalities skyrocketed. In 1926, a special headquarters for fleet sales to law enforcement was established. Harley-Davidson published the purpose of helping law enforcement "curb this tragic traffic slaughter." Being faster and more maneuverable than nearly all cars on the road, Harley-Davidson motorbikes gave police the upper hand against speeders. By the conclusion of the 1920s, in excess of 3,000 police departments and government agencies used Harley-Davidson motorbikes. The Great Depression As with the majority of manufacturers, the Great Depression hit Harley-Davidson sales intensely. Starting with the stock market breakdown of 1929, sales fell each year until 1933. But even in that year, Harley-Davidson assertively marketed its merchandise as "The Police Motorbike" and supported national campaigns for traffic safety. The three-wheel Servi-Car, introduced in 1931, became exceptionally accepted with police force departments for traffic and parking enforcement and continued to function as a Harley-Davidson standard for 41 years. World War II and the 1950s During WWII, Harley-Davidson produced 88,000 motorbikes for the war endeavor, counting the horizontally opposed, two-cylinder, shaft-drive XA 750 version. (They were in no way sold to the public and merely 1,000 were completed.) For its patriotic efforts, the Motor Company was awarded four prestigious Army-Navy "E" awards. In the 1950s, youth took to street racing in hopped-up jalopies. To slow down this trend, the Pittsburgh Police Department shaped its Harley-Davidson motorbike officers into a Hot Rod Squad. The appearance of a motorbike cop parked behind a billboard became an image of Americana. And the suggestion that a police officer would sit on something other than a Harley-Davidson wouldn't be plausible until the 1970s. An imperative association developed in the 1940s and remains to this day as Harley-Davidson and Northwestern University's Center for Public Safety (formerly the Traffic Institute at Northwestern) have worked together for more than 60 years to provide officer training. Recent History In the last five years, Harley-Davidson police sales have more than doubled. Today, just as in the late 1920s, more than 3,400 police departments ride Harley-Davidson motorcycles in the U.S. alone. Harley-Davidson Police motorbikes are additionally used in 45 countries. This is a dramatic intensification from the Motor Company's 80th Anniversary twenty years ago, when just over 400 state, provincial, county and municipal police departments were equipped with Harley-Davidson motorbikes. After the tragic events of September 11, 2001, Harley-Davidson donated 37 motorbikes to the New York Police Department, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and the New York State Police. The Future All through the years, police and armed forces organizations have realized the advantages of using Harley-Davidson motorbikes. Today, payback such as great resale amount and the capacity of the motorcycle to enhance municipal relations (critical to district policing efforts) continue to expand our police / fleet partnership. "There is something definitely justified about a cop on a Harley-Davidson."
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"There is something irrefutably right about a cop on a Harley-Davidson."
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