Border Patrol

This morning, driving down Main Street, Batavia, I spotted a group Border Patrol agents riding Harley-Davidson Motorcycles, and I immediately thought, "I've never seen the Border Patrol on motor bikes before."

I would soon learn, this is an unusual sight -- there is only one motor bike unit with the Border Patrol in the United States, and they're based in Grand Island.

I stopped at an intersection next to the agents and asked one what they were up to and he told me they were headed to Stan's Harley-Davidson -- a pilgrimage of sorts, I gather.

The agents were in town to display their bikes at a Border Patrol co-sponsored golf tournament at Batavia Country Club.

Assistant Chief Mike Hester told me the Border Patrol invested in the Harley unit a year ago, during the previous administration, when the President was looking to double the size of the Border Patrol. Area agents found out that the Buffalo region has the second highest rate of Harley ownership in the nation, so a Harley unit was seen as a way to get into the community and recruit potential agents. Mostly, the Harley unit has been used at bike events and other community events, but they also patrol the tourist areas of Niagara, where heavy pedestrian traffic can make a typical cruiser harder and more dangerous to use.

Pictured are Supervisor Adam Matuszeiuski, Chief Hester, Acting Assistant Chief Andrew Scharnweber and Field Operations Supervisor Jason Heckler.

Stan's Harley was the group's last stop for the day in Genesee County before heading home.