So we have these 22 motorcycles that are increasingly becoming unsafe due to the age of them.
Just like a person, the older you are, the more things can happen to you.
The older these bikes get, the more some officers wonder if they'll see old age.
Half the Dallas Police Department's motorcycle fleet is nearly 10 years old.
A longtime mechanic explains why that could lead to problems.
Pieces that get fatigued, swing arm bolts or axles, even transmission gears,
it's a lot of the stuff you aren't going to be able to see with the naked eye.
That mechanical fatigue could prove dangerous,
especially when, as one officer put it, you need to go from zero to 80 in a heartbeat to catch a freeway speeder.
If something goes wrong or you blow a tire or an engine goes or a transmission goes, that's it.
You just hope Lady Luck's on your side.
Bart Mundy has worked on Kawasaki's for 25 years.
Matt says police officers have legitimate concerns.
Would you feel comfortable riding one of those bikes?
Personally, no.
to this point no dallas police officers have been injured because of the older bikes in fact
the department does regular maintenance on the motorcycles to ensure safety but some officers say
the older bikes cost more to maintain than simply buying new ones they spend so much time down now
that it's just uh incredible the amount of time we've been driving cars my bike right now is in
the uh it's gone back to kawasaki for an engine and transmission rebuild records show that last
Last year the Dallas Police Department had a surplus of more than $4 million
and that over the years they have consistently asked for new bikes
but been repeatedly shot down by the city.
We took the officers' concerns to the assistant city manager, Levi Davis.
Oh, that's the first time I've heard that.
I haven't heard that before I can look into that, but that's new news.
Documents addressed to Davis dating back at least a year indicate otherwise.
Davis now cites everything from restrictive bid packages to no funds for the bikes
as the reason the city turned down the requests.
And it appears there's no solution around the corner either
since items for the coming year have already been budgeted
and new motorcycles are not on that list.
Joe Munoz, Texas News 5.