Lines blur between cops and bikers across the country

[IDemo]

The undercover NYPD detective now charged with taking part in a bike gang’s assault on an SUV is not the only police officer who may have crossed the line between cop and biker. Across the country, say experts, that line has grown blurry as the number of active police officers joining and forming motorcycle clubs has soared.

“Within the last 10 or 12 years, there has just been an explosion of these clubs of law enforcement, firefighters and military,” said Terry Katz, a retired lieutenant in the Maryland State Police who is vice president of the International Outlaw Motorcycle Gang Investigators’ Association.

Most simply ride with friends in their free time, but some have been involved in violent incidents while in “biker” mode. An Arizona officer goes to court Thursday for allegedly assaulting a bar patron who made comments about his bike gang's “colors.”

According to Katz, it doesn’t help that many of the law enforcement motorcycle clubs model themselves on outlaw gangs like the Hells Angels and the Warlocks. They wear the same kind of patches, ride the same bikes, and, sometimes, break the same laws.

http://investigations.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/10/09/20884715-lines-blur-between-cops-and-bikers-across-the-country?lite

[1000words]

1. I know a lot of bikers .... and a bunch of cops.

Just about all are ex-military. Wondering if there is a correlation ...

[yesphan]

2. Many of the today's famous/infamous

bike gangs were formed by WWII vets.

http://bikersofamerica.blogspot.com/2010/07/ten-most-notorious-outlaw-biker-gangs.html

[Liberal_in_LA]

3. ny beating has unvailed a world most of us didnt know existed

[russspeakeasy]

4. You can't blur a single line.