The History of the Aventura Police Department Motorcycle Unit
By Sgt. Robert Sabatino
The Aventura Police Motorcycle Unit takes pride in their unit. We continuously strive for perfection in our riding skills. In August of 2000, we started preparing for the Mid-Atlantic Motorcycle Competition. We started training with the Harley-Davidson Road King motorcycles while anxiously awaiting Harley-Davidson’s new FXDP Dyna Defender. Two days before our departure day, Harley-Davidson of Miami took delivery of the FXDP Dyna Defenders. They were ready for delivery the day before our departure. We had just enough time to put the decals on them that day and we left for the competition the following morning.
Upon arriving in Fairfax, VA, late Wednesday night, we still had not trained on the FXDP Dyna Defenders! Thursday morning was the first day we were able to train on the new FXDP Dyna Defenders, and we were extremely impressed with the motorcycle’s performance. We trained all day Thursday and Friday. Saturday was the day of the competition and we knew the FXDP Dyna Defender handled well and had a tighter turning radius, so we were confident we would fare well in competition. We were pleased that Ofc. M. Taylor took 1st place, Sgt. R. Sabatino placed 2nd, and Ofc. M. Potvin was 3rd place in Division III. Sgt. R. Sabatino also took 2nd place in the slow ride. Due to the lack of training time and being unfamiliar with the new FXDP Dyna Defender, we never expected to finish as well as we did!
Information was reproduced from the Harley-Davidson Magazine “The Mounted Officer” Spring 2001 Volume 73 Number 1