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| Motorcycle police officers Edwin Blackhan and John Bryant |
In the spring of 1913, the Davenport Police Department tried something new.
Automobiles were multiplying, drivers were
testing the limits of speed, and the old methods—foot patrols and horse
officers—couldn’t always keep up. So the department bought a motorcycle.
The plan was simple. A motorcycle officer
would remain near the station house. When an emergency call came in, he was
dispatched, racing through city streets faster than any patrol wagon could
manage.
The first motorcycle officer was Charles
Boettcher. He set the pace for the new experiment, proving that two wheels and
a powerful engine could change the way a city was policed. When Boettcher moved
up to detective work, Olaf Dahlquist took his place.
By 1914, the motorcycle squad had become
indispensable. The Davenport Democrat and Leader said the
department would be “lost” without its motorcycle officers. Speeding
automobiles—sometimes called “auto speed maniacs”—were becoming a menace. The
department answered with a machine built to match them.
They chose a Flying Merkle, a powerful
motorcycle capable of reaching 55 to 60 miles per hour. That speed made it more
than a novelty. It made it a weapon against reckless driving. As the department
put it, a “motorcycle cop is the only effectual solution of the auto speed
maniac problem.” It took a high-powered car to escape a motorcycle man, and few
drivers owned one.
In the spring of 1914, two officers carried
the city’s motorcycle duties. Edwin Blackhan handled the daytime shift. John
Bryant took the night watch.
What began as a simple experiment quickly
proved its worth. Within a year, Davenport’s motorcycle patrol wasn’t just a
curiosity. It was essential. And plans were in the works to add another cycle.
