Criticism over number of officers is addressed in aftermath of
unofficial biker rally
Hollister – While many locals and visitors have complained that it seemed that law enforcement officers, rather than hordes of bikers, staged an invasion of Hollister this Fourth of July, Police Chief Jeff Miller said Friday the swarms of officers patrolling downtown streets during the unplanned biker rally were part of the department’s efforts to ensure public safety during an uncertain event.
“We didn’t know how many (bikers) where coming,” Miller said. “Hindsight is always 20/20. Our goal was to make sure things were safe.”
Miller, who has come under fire this week from city officials and residents for what many perceived as overpolicing during the unofficial rally, said that dozens of rumors had police preparing for the worst-case scenario.
“One rumor was that the bikers would all ride in at the same time and park their bikes in the middle of (San Benito Street), effectively closing down the street,” Miller said. “We were also hearing that the Hell’s Angels and the Mongols were coming to ‘teach the city a lesson.’ We had to have officers available to prevent the problems that everyone had been predicting.”
Hollister Mayor Robert Scattini told the Free Lance earlier this week that he was “embarrassed” to be the city’s mayor after receiving dozens of complaints from local citizens and visiting bikers about overzealous law enforcement. Others have complained that bored cops punished the bikers with tickets and citations for coming to the canceled rally.
Miller, who organized public safety for the rally, said law enforcement officials did their best to adapt once it became apparent that the crowds were smaller than expected. He said fewer officers were on patrol for this year’s event than for the 2005 rally and that the number of officers on the street decreased each day when the hordes of bikers failed to materialize.
“We adjusted each day to what we saw,” Miller said. “But Friday was the big unknown.”
For most of Friday, police outnumbered motorcyclists, prompting some locals to drive around the city with a “Police Rally” sign on their truck. Hollister resident and motorcyclist Joe Love called the influx of police officers “massive overkill.”
“When you have police force of that size on the streets it puts a bad taste in your mouth,” he said. “I was more nervous about having all the cops downtown than having all the bikers.”
Love said he understands that police had to be prepared for the worst-case scenario, but said they should have had a contingency plan instead of pounding the pavement in large groups and “muscling” the local citizenry and motorcycle-riding tourists.
“Have officers in plainclothes and have a backup plan if things get out of control,” he said. “But don’t have them roaming around like gangsters.”
This year, 84 officers were on patrol throughout the city, not including California Highway Patrol officers. In 2005, during the city-sanctioned Hollister Independence Rally that drew 120,000 motorcyclists, 104 officers were on patrol, Miller said.
“There was a lot of concern that we would be picking on bikers, but that didn’t happen,” Miller said. “We enforced the law equally.”
Preliminary numbers show that local motorists were ticketed more than visiting motorcyclists. Of the 64 citations issued during the 3-day rally by local police and volunteer officers from other agencies, three were given to motorcyclists, Miller said. And of the 31 parking tickets issued, again, three went to motorcyclists.
This is the first time in nine years that there hasn’t been a fatal accident, Miller said. “In fact their were zero traffic collisions during those three days, which is amazing for any weekend of the year.”
Although police had planned to enforce all parking regulations, which are not normally monitored, Miller said he called off the idea after seeing the mild number of bikers who showed up for the canceled event.
“I’m glad nobody was hurt and I’m glad downtown streets stayed open,” Miller said.
