1970-2015
By Gavin McEachern,
TAC/Hondas
The Honda Unit, part of the Special Operations Group, comprised of Tactical Squads 5 and 6, celebrated its 45th anniversary on May 1, 2015.
The unit began in 1970, under then Chief Al Nelder. The unit originally utilized 90cc Honda trail bikes to patrol over the hundreds of parks and beaches throughout the city. From their early years they were instrumental in suppressing a variety of crime in hard to reach areas where patrol cars and foot beats had a difficult time treading. As time went on they were particularly adept at helping with crowd control at demonstrations, assisting at special events and applying a mobile team to address particular problem areas. They often times were able to saturate areas where crime and drug dealing was troublesome and they quickly racked up an impressive success rate of arrests and crime suppression.
The Honda unit was particularly useful during the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake and during many of the numerous war demonstrations that we saw at the turn of the century.
Made up today of two squads of highly trained riders, they now have to complete an intensive 8 week training course that includes mastering slow speed maneuvering, stairs, trails, beaches, formation riding and crowd control techniques. The Honda unit’s instructors are often times sought out to train other Police Departments in the Bay Area.
Today the unit utilizes the Suzuki Dual Sport 400 and its officers are equipped with the some of the latest safety equipment. You can often see them patrolling the parks and beaches, and spending much of their time in the high crime areas and at many of the demonstrations and special events that the City hosts regularly.
It’s been 45 years and the traditions and duties of the elite unit still carry on to this day.
