(Shown: Sheriff Ed Kilgore and Jason Arrien, of Sonoma Cycle, with the HCSO off-road enforcement motorcycles)

WINNEMUCCA — Humboldt County offers some advantages to those looking for a spot to grow pot.  One advantage is that many areas of the county are too remote for regular – or any – law enforcement patrol.

Matters became critical in October 2008 when several BLM employees stumbled across a remote pot growing operation being guarded by heavily-armed drug traffickers.   The BLM employees were held at gunpoint for several hours before being released by their captors.

The incident demonstrated the need for greater access to the back country.  Called “off-road enforcement”, Detective Kevin Malone approached the sheriff with some research on what other rural agencies were doing.  That research included the idea of accessing the rural areas with motorcycles.

While it was a great idea, the issue for acquiring new equipment is always the same:  the budget.  In a tight economy, where even the purchase of new street vehicles was carefully negotiated with the Humboldt County Board of Commissioners, it was not likely the county would have money for such a purchase anytime soon.

However, there was money available through the ARRA funds, a.k.a. the federal stimulus package, which Undersheriff Curtiss Kull applied for.  Eventually the SO was awarded $29,792 from a non-competitive grant specific to the agency.

The grant allowed the SO to purchase the equipment needed to keep up with the bad guys: two Suzuki 650 motorcycles.  The motorcycles give deputies easier access to the remote regions of the county where pot growers are known or suspected of plying their trade -- areas too to rough for regular patrol vehicles.

The motorcycles give the SO advantages beyond drug interdiction.  Kull noted there are many reasons deputies need access to the back country including:  medical emergencies, lost outdoorsmen, investigation of stolen/discarded vehicles, and illegal dumping.

The motorcycles were purchased from Sonoma Cycle whose staff tricked out the bikes with equipment specific to law enforcement – such as red and blue flashing lights.  For the most part, though, the bikes look like any other motorcycle crossing the back country.  Kull pointed out the advantage of remaining low-key while approaching potentially dangerous drug traffickers.  He said of the growers, “They’re going to see these bikes coming and think it’s just someone out for a day’s ride.”

As for which deputies will ultimately be assigned to the motorcycle rotation, Kull said there has been no shortage of volunteers.

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