The officer was moving, but barely.
Riding a decked out white Harley-Davidson, outfitted for the Fairfax County Police Motor Squad, Oliver Haugen inched through a cone-lined course set up over a few parking spots.
The goal on the slow course — part of the Mid-Atlantic Police Motorcycle Rodeo, which comes to a head with competitions Saturday — is to go as slow as possible, balancing the heavy bike without the rider’s feet ever touching the ground.
Haugen jerked the handlebars and manipulated the clutch, searching for the sweet spot between stability and momentum and sometimes coming to a complete stop. It was as if someone kept hitting pause and play as his practice run unfolded at the Dulles Town Center this week.
It took him 1 minute 6 seconds to reach the finish line, an impressive slow-mo performance Haugen’s colleague said could be quickly overshadowed. “Some guys will spend up to two minutes in there,” said Thaddeus Kolwicz, a fellow Fairfax police officer and vice president of the group that puts on the rodeo, which is open to the public.
Motor officers come to show off skills and reunite with friends, but the rodeo is also a training ground. The orange cone-lined courses, which also include ones for speed and precision, are designed to mimic real-world scenarios, such as changing lanes in the roar of traffic or slipping through tight spaces, such as in alleyways or between cars.
“If you hit a single cone, you’re not going to win,” Kolwicz said. On duty, that piece of orange plastic could have been a pedestrian or a vehicle, he said.
The rodeo was started 47 years ago by A.D. Johnson, a Prince George’s County police corporal, after he realized the region’s motor officers would only gather for funeral escorts.
“Nobody wants to do it that way,” Loudoun County Sheriff’s Deputy Jeremy Krapfl said.
Preparing for this job requires 80 hours of motor school and months more of training in the field. They practice sudden emergency braking, navigating curbs and crowds, and off-road biking.
Such skills are vital in situations where public safety is at risk, officers said. A nimble motor officer is sometimes the best option in a bad situation, they said.
If a child went missing and was last seen on a trail, Krapfl said, “it’s easier for patrol to call out the motors, because they can come out and get through those areas. Then you find yourself riding your Harley through the woods.”
Aimee Jara had spent three years as a patrol officer in Fairfax County. Then the motor squad invited colleagues to see what they do.
Jara had never ridden a motorcycle before but decided to start training. She ended up dropping the bike — they can weigh around 1,000 pounds — the first time she took it for a test drive.
But something clicked as she kept working at it, Jara said. She passed motor school, completed field training and competed in her first rodeo last year.
“I didn’t win anything … no big deal,” Jara said, adding that she was in it, like a lot of others, for the fun.
Trailers marked with badges representing law enforcement agencies from across the region — including Metro Transit, Prince George’s County and Arlington police — filled part of the parking lot outside the mall. Rock music blared, nearly overshadowed by the growling Harleys and BMWs nearby.
Officers sat on lawn chairs next to RVs, where some decided to camp out to avoid a long commute to the rodeo.
Some had met decades ago as trainees, or had trained others themselves. The job had taken Shawn Martin, a senior deputy with the Stafford County Sheriff’s Office, to New Orleans during Mardi Gras and New York City for an annual 9/11 ride commemorating those who died during the terrorist attack 25 years ago.
Others reminisced about the presidential motorcades they’d been a part of, requests for help from surrounding jurisdictions and moments like pulling up beside a car with waving kids inside.
“That’s what it’s about,” said Stafford County Deputy Rick Mattison, who for six years rode in local parades as Santa Claus.
Being a police officer can be dangerous, and being a motor officer even more so. On the bike, they’re exposed to the elements — extreme heat, bitter cold — and are especially vulnerable to distracted drivers.
Krapfl, who has been on Loudoun’s motor squad for eight years, knows the risks.
While responding to a car accident one morning in January two years ago, Krapfl and his partner, Deputy Brian Plaugher, were struck by a vehicle that crossed into their lane.
Plaugher was able to stand up and was treated at a hospital before being released that day, the department said.
But Krapfl was hurt. “I wasn’t able to move,” he said.
Injuries to his left leg required four surgeries and rehab. Krapfl spent nine months in recovery. But then he hopped back on his bike.
There were moments of fear, when he felt the “PTSD coming back,” he said. Other times, out on the road, he was “right back at home.”
“It is hands-down the best job in the world,” Krapfl said. “The best job in law enforcement.”
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