Motorcycle Officers Sharpen Skills

The toughest part of motorcycle training for east county Sheriff’s Deputy Anthony Biter hasn’t been learning the rules of the road or learning how to ride a motorcycle, but learning to ride a police motorcycle.

“It’s very different than when I ride off duty,” said Biter, who’s been riding motorcycles for 10 years. “I would ride from point A to point B. This is different, I’m driving defensively now and learning how to handle it.”

Biter is one of two motorcycle officers undergoing training for the Thousand Oaks-based traffic division.

And as evidence to the difficulty of the training program, fellow Deputy Nolan Stoyko broke his foot when he dropped his 700-pound motorcycle during a training session. Stoyko will resume training once his foot is healed.

Biter worked at Ojai and Camarillo in traffic enforcement, special detail and special enforcement for a little more than seven years.

He has spent most of his training days at the old East Valley Station, between the new station and the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum off Olsen Road. Orange cones are set up in various patterns and squares are spray-painted on the asphalt to reflect the various riding situations that could occur while on duty.

“The main thing we try to teach is to avoid collisions,” said Senior Deputy Bill Therrien, who trains the new officers. “We teach acceleration and deceleration at 40 mph. If a vehicle pulls out in front of you, you need to accelerate, decelerate or both to lessen the impact.”

Therrien also organizes the monthly training sessions that all seven of the traffic officers participate in to sharpen their defensive driving skills.

The first week of training, Biter spent four hours a day riding around the cones. The second week he spent six hours on the course. This week he’s spent eight hours a day on the course, dubbed the Eliminator.

On Monday, Biter will travel to Sacramento and train for two weeks at the California Highway Patrol Academy. When he returns to the east county station he will be partnered with another officer for two weeks before he rides on his own.