This post is a guest blog from a friend

Hi, call me “Motorman.” I am a motor officer who serves on the local PD where BHD lives. He has been on my case for months to write something for his blog about what I feel like when citizens ask me questions.

Here goes. What is the most frequent question I am asked?

“Where is?” … for some reason, almost everyone thinks I know where everything is. Not just street names, but things like, “the nearest bathroom” or “where I can buy a plunger?” Sometimes the questions are annoying, but I just suck it up, smile, and give the directions as best I know. But if I don’t know, I’ll say so.

Because I do a lot of traffic enforcement, I am also asked a lot about “tickets” (we call them citations). Why someone got a ticket for some infraction, or if I know how to appeal a ticket without going to court, or where Officer XYZ lives. It’s all part of the job — I refer them to Court. And hell no, I won’t give the home address for any of my fellow officers. Are you nuts?

Next frequent questions are random — like, “do you know my cousin who is a police officer in ______ (some distant county in another state?)” Yes, ma’am! I know all the cops in the whole USA! Yeah, right.

… or “do you like to ride a motorcycle?” You’re asking a motor officer? Um, yessir! It’s what I trained for!

I also get a lot of questions like, “do you ride in the rain?” or “do you ride when it’s cold (or hot)?” or “do you get to take your motorcycle home?” There is a lot of interest in the motorcycling aspect of my job. Quick answers: (rain) — sometimes, if caught by surprise or we have a mandatory escort such as for a funeral; (cold or hot) — we don’t ride when it is unbearably cold or if there may be ice. We also don’t ride if it is excessively hot. We have patrol cars assigned to us to use when we don’t ride our motors. Some of us are allowed to take our patrol cars home between shifts, but our police motors are kept parked at our District Station.

I am sometimes asked about my uniform and boots — but not what you might expect. The most common question I am asked about the uniform — “is that uniform hot?” Our uniforms are black. The boots are black. The bullet-proof vest is also black. Yes, then — especially in the full sun — the uniform is hot. One reason why I like to ride to enjoy the “natural air conditioning.”

I guess I couldn’t get by with writing for BHD’s blog without talking about the boots. Most frequent question I get about the boots — “where did you get those boots” or “can civilians wear boots like yours?” I get my boots from a vendor who provides a cop discount. Most vendors have about the same prices — the cop discount seems to be the “at-cost” price from the manufacturer, so the cost to me is about the same regardless of where I buy them.

Yes, civilians can wear boots like I do. BHD does, and so do a few others. The boots look and feel great and are made for motorcycling.

What do I think about the boots? They’re all part of the uniform. No more. No less. BHD hates it when he sees me off duty and I am wearing sneakers.

Thanks, BHD, for the support you provide to me and our Department. See you on the next ride!