Prodded by citizen complaints, city officials have informed the Los Angeles Police Department's bike unit that it is not above the law--specifically a long-standing ordinance banning bikes from hiking paths.
The result? LAPD officers can no longer train on dirt paths in Elysian and Griffith parks, where the department for decades has sent bicycle officers to learn how to navigate tough terrain.
City officers aren't the only ones affected. The small bike patrol affiliated with the Los Angeles Recreation and Parks Department also has been forced to stop training--on the very grounds its officers are responsible for patrolling.
The ban threatens to reignite a smoldering feud over the use of bikes on mountain trails that first flared in 2000. A proposal to open the paths to cyclists touched off conflicts with hikers and equestrians, who said they feared trail damage, erosion and collisions with two-wheeling daredevils.
Some bikers even reported physical threats. The mounting tension caused the city to back off on its plan to open the trails to bicycles--making Los Angeles city parks among the few areas in the county where trails are off-limits to bikers.
Trying to head off a repeat of that squabble, the sudden ban on police training has politicians and park advocates gingerly considering a compromise.
Meanwhile, LAPD bike trainers and the park rangers who work out with them may be forced into an alternate training locale, possibly in Burbank. (In a strange irony, the rangers are permitted to ride on park trails while performing their official duties, but not while training for their work.)
"We've just really got no idea right now where we are going to get the training in," said Sgt. Vance Bjorklund, the bicycle unit's lead trainer, who hasn't been able to hold a class since October. "One thing we do know: Unless they change the law, there's no place to train off-road in Los Angeles."
Police cyclists have trained since the early 1980s on the dirt fire roads of Elysian Park, near the Police Academy and Dodger Stadium. They also trained on nearby trails in 4,000-acre Griffith Park.
They'd probably still be taking instruction in both parks if not for Christine Peters, a Hollywood costume designer who lives on the eastern slope of Elysian Park, just yards from a steep dirt trail.
An Alarming Example
