Wild Pigs police motorcycle club promotes safety and charity

Lieutenant Bernie Erwin, of the Seminole County Sheriff’s Department, is proud to be called a Pig…with a capital “P.”
For him and the 20 other members in the local Wild Pigs motorcycle club, PIG stands for Pride, Integrity, and Guts. They may look like outlaw bikers in their black leather and three-piece colors on their backs, roaring down a ribbon of highway on their Harleys, but these bad-looking biker dudes are, in fact, all members of law enforcement agencies from across Central Florida.

The group meets monthly in Sanford at the Disabled American Veterans Hall to promote safe motorcycle riding and work on charitable causes. On weekends they go on group rides to celebrate the open road and foster camaraderie among members.

“We want to encourage safe cycling and camaraderie, and give back to the community what it’s given to us,” says Bernie, the club’s president.

The only requirements for membership are that you have to be an active or retired law enforcement officer in good standing who owns a Harley Davidson or other American motorcycle.

These Pigs only ride hogs. But they’re not chauvinist Pigs.

They welcome women members like Jan Kloth of Longwood, a sergeant with the Seminole County Sheriff’s office.

“I enjoy riding with the guys and doing things for the community,” she says.

In November the Wild Pigs rode in the March of Dimes run in Palm Bay, where they were voted best new motorcycle group. They raised money for a firefighter in Apopka who lost his hand and arm in a fire. And in December they adopted a dozen needy families from Starlight Baptist Church in Winter Springs. They bought Christmas dinner for each family, toys for kids, and a new bicycle for one disadvantaged boy.

“We went to Pastor Glen Riggs in December and told him that we wanted to help,” says Wild Pigs member Steve Walthers, a Lake Mary resident who is retired from the Seminole County Sheriff’s Department.

“He said they had 12 families that needed help, so we went ahead with the 12, prepared complete turkey dinners, and put them in wrapped boxes. Then we made arrangements for them to come to the church, where we handed out the meals.”

During the course of that afternoon, one woman mentioned that her four-year-old son wanted a bike, but she couldn’t afford one. When the members heard about it, they got the boy a bicycle, then got on their Harleys and rode to his house a a group to present it to him.

“He was just unbelievably happy,” says Steve. “He couldn’t speak. But I don’t know if he was more happy about the bicycle or seeing all those big, loud motorcycles and getting a chance to sit on one.”

In the future, the Wild Pigs want to do more to help the families of disabled officers or the families of those killed in the line of duty.

The Orlando-area chapter was founded about a year-and-a-half ago, but the national organization has been around since 1987. At the peak of the organization, there were 60 chapters and 1,200 members nationwide.

Surprisingly, despite all the good work that the local club does, they’ve had difficulty in attracting members because some in law enforcement view any motorcycle group that wears a three-piece patch on their backs as a “one-percenter” group of outlaws. The term derives from a 1947 riot in Hollister, California, that was blamed on two rival motorcycle clubs. The incident became the inspiration for the 1950s Marlon Brando flick, The Wild One, a movie about rebellious bikers.

In a bid to change the public’s view of motorcycle clubs as havens for thugs, the American Motorcyclists Association issued a statement saying that “99 percent” of motorcycle riders are law-abiding citizens and only “one percent” are troublemakers. Unfortunately, some groups like the Hells Angels took that label as a badge of honor. Many outlaw bikers have a “1%” diamond patch they wear on their leather jackets or have “1%” tattooed on their arms, according to an article in the Austin Chronicle newspaper of Austin, Texas. And instead of wearing a single patch on their backs, these groups break it up into three pieces as a sign of rebellion and nonconformity.

The local Wild Pigs group is actively seeking members and wants to assure the public and fellow law enforcement officers that they are good guys. Just as the group took “Pigs,” the derogatory term for cops popularized by protestors in the 1960s, and made it a positive term, they hope to take the stereotypical tough-guy motorcycle club image and transform it into a symbol of good in the world.

“We have a love of riding motorcycles and a commitment to our community,” says Tom Artingstall, a Longwood resident, who is employed by the state attorney’s office. “Wild Pigs is a law enforcement motorcycle club, a law-and-order motorcycle club. Everybody here is committed to doing the right thing and helping people.

“Sometimes people see the organization in a negative light. We are not an outlaw group. We are definitely a do-gooder motorcycle club. But because of the connotation of a one-percent club, because of the three-piece patch, sometimes the community may look at it differently. Sometimes administrators in law enforcement agencies may look at us negatively. Even our fellow law enforcement motorcycle clubs like the Blue Knights may view us with suspicion. They wonder, ‘Are they walking the line? Are they associating with bad guys? Are they bad people?’

“No, what makes the club are the people who wear these colors and are committed to doing the right thing.”

But Tom is the first to admit that perceptions are hard to change, even among their members.

“We have a number of members who didn’t want to have their pictures taken with the group for the article because of this connotation,” he says.

Fortunately, that’s not how Darrell Brewer of Sanford feels. The retired lieutenant with the Sanford Police Department is currently a judicial deputy with the Seminole County Sheriff’s office and proud to be a Wild Pig.

“I’ve known most of these people for years. We have similar interests and enjoy the camaraderie,” he says.

Jay Summers of Lake Mary, a sergeant with the Seminole County Sheriff’s office, agrees. “This is a great bunch of people and everybody in the organization is very professional. We have a lot of fun.”

So if you’re out driving and you see the Wild Pigs on their motorcycles, you don’t have to worry about anything…unless you run a stop sign. Then you might get a ticket from an unorthodox-looking motorcycle cop.

“We’re just a close-knit bunch of guys,” says Steve. “We worked together as cops and we love to ride together.”

For more information about the Wild Pigs, visit their website at www.wildpigsorlando.org

by Peter Reilly

Posted 2008-02-21 10:19:05