lumenredundas

so tonight was another typical critical mass in milwaukee. we do our thing get a little way and then get busted. but the strange twist on this ride has me baffled. today we decided not to go onto the streets(if you dont go on the streets, how can you break traffic laws and get ticketed for them, right?) so we decided to take to the bike path. there were only about 30 riders so it wasnt anything big, and when oncoming traaffic came we moved over and gave them room to pass. heres where the funny/weird part comes into play. we were followed onto the bike path by the police, not on bikes mind you, but in their cars. bike path =bikes and peds right, at least thats what the prohibition signs say. we go about 2 or 3 miles on the bike path to the lake and end up out by the art museum. at this point in the path it becomes a big open field/ park. lights and sirens start blarring, and coming down a grassy knoll at about 30+ mph a cop in an SUV charges the bike path skids to a stop inches shy of the front three people. we are automatically told to get off our bikes and take out our ids. they start handcuffing people. 8 people, myself included, end up in the back of a paddy wagon. i and one other person are let go from the police custody, rest are sent to ditrict 5 for booking. only thing we were ticketed for was biking without a licence. (granted stupid for us to not have them) but if they stop us, why dont they stop anyone else.

what do you all think of this. any questions or suggestions

XVX

Seggybop

...you need a license to bike in milwaukee?

No_Minkah

that's wack. I bet there are some big group training rides in MKE that are that big, and I bet roadies wouldn't have any problems like that.

Fugazi Dave

Biking without a license? That's like pissing without a permit.

lumenredundas

yup, for when you get pulled over for speeding...??? the only close to logical answer i can seem to get is so if your bike is stolen it will be easier to tell whos it is. the odd thing is that my licence actually feel off in the rain, because its a sticker, that goes on your bike, not something you can keep in your wallet or something.

XVX

lumenredundas

yeah there are. but they are a team and have expensive bikes and matching uniforms, so it must be ok for them to do that. but since we are a group of average joes, we must be up to something evil.

XVX

pathdoc

I'd write to my local paper and see if they would run your story. That's harassment plain and simple. You need a license to ride a bike? WTF?

EricDJ

Anyone record them on video like they do in NYC?

mattface 

what were you stopped for? Don't they need probable cause in Milwaukee?

Chimay

Probably the fashion police. Bet someone had splash bartape on their fixed gear.

DonPenguino

Yeah, try to get it published. Also get a group together to go to city hall and bring your case up, with reference to the cops DRIVING on the damn'd bike paths.
Also, don't you need probable cause for any search/stuff like that? The whole situation just seems too bogus to be true.

MiRider

To conduct a valid traffic stop, the police generally need reasonable suspicion that a crime has been/is/will be committed. Reasonable suspicion is a lower standard than probable cause - not that it really matters anyway. Traffic stops are still valid even when that reasonable suspicion turns up no criminal activity.

lumenredundas

thats the thing, they didnt give us any reason except we need a licence to ride on the street. they then said to ride period after we told them we were not on the street.

Jerseysbest

What the hell is this crap about carrying your license when you ride? How can you get a ticket for riding your bike with out a license? That f'in ********

fore

it's not necessarily a license as much as it is a bike registration. you're supposed to register your bike with the PD/city. few people actually do, however. it's designed to let the PD have your bike's info (brand/model/serial # and such) to prove it's yours in the event it's recovered after it's stolen. whether or not it A) gets recovered and B) gets traced back to you is another story.

and as far as the cops driving on the oak leaf trail, they do it all the time. there used to be a problem with muggings and such on that trail after dark. granted, they're usually not hauling ass (probably not even 5mph or so) and have always been more than happy to pull aside to give me room to pass.

the way i see it, the police here are just trying to head off the critical mass idea before it gets out of control. i'll probably get a lot of **** for this, but i don't like the idea of critical mass anyway. i don't see it as people trying to make a point about bicycles having equal access to the road, rather i see it as a bunch of people looking for an excuse to ride around the city with no/little regard for traffic law and safety. i could be completely wrong, but that seems to be how these things wind up as far as i can tell.

if i see it like that (as a cyclist no less), imagine how it looks to everyone else.

i'll admit that most of my riding these days is on a road bike (with gears!) and i hate the idea that Joe Driver is going to lump me in with the stereotype of the CM-rider. i don't want him taking out his anger at the CM-types on me.

the other thing that might get me flamed is that i don't think milwaukee needs a critical mass. milwaukee already is a very cycling friendly city. sure, i've had my run-ins with idiot drivers but for the most part i get treated with quite a bit of respect. aside from the drivers, i can't count the number of new bike lanes that've been added in the past few years, and the thought of how many more are on the way fills me with glee. i see more people riding around on bikes now than i did two years ago, and even then that was a lot more than i saw five years ago.

roadfix

we don't need no license to bike here in echo park.

squeakywheel

American Civil Liberties Union? Aren't they the activist group that's always challenging bogus government harassement stuff?

lumenredundas

fore, cm is more than just showing our rights to the road. its about building community. so people have a place they can meet new people on bikes etc.etc.etc. ill agree that there are those that go to it just to "piss off " the drivers and want to be as rude as possible. but if people take the time to educate other and help them know the rules it will work a lot easier and it wont happen in the future.

XVX

AfterThisNap

X2 on the video next time. Evidence of cops acting out of control is key

lumenredundas

there are some pictures, sadly no video

XVX

keevohn

fore -

Thank you for solidifying several ideas that have been developing in my head for a while now.

Though, I'm not trying to start a CM debate...

lumenredundas

https://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=419792

ANNE E. SCHWARTZ IS A LIAR!
Was it the BICYCLISTS who forced everyone off the bike trail?
NO! The bicyclists made strong efforts to MOVE TO THE RIGHT SIDE to allow fair traffic.
it was the SQUAD CARS who OCCUPIED MORE THAN THE WIDTH of the bike trail who FORCED PEDESTRIANS AND CYCLISTS OFF THE TRAIL!
Why must the Milwaukee Police community keep embarrassing themselves?

XVX

raygunner

Sounds like the fun police needed to fill their quotas.

PS - Being a cop in Milwaukee sounds pretty embarrasing itself. I'm not sure how much you can push that envelope.

Matthew A Brown

Easy on the capslock, tiger.


Thanks for posting the article, too.

elmcity

good points here.
in new haven, we try to talk with the drivers. it works two-fold -- the driver understands what is happening, and the driver's car ends up doing the corking for us.

crit.mass is many things to many people, and that's the simple beauty of it.