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Mark Hinchliffe·
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··2 Comments·1 min read

British police cop a Ducati Panigale V4

Ducati Panigale V4 police bike

There would be little chance of outrunning the British motorcycle police now that they have a Ducati Panigale V4 on their fleet.

However, the 211 horsepower (157kW) beast won’t be used in patrol or pursuit duties.

Instead, Ducati UK has donated it to the police-led BikeSafe motorcycle project which delivers theoretical and practical rider training workshops.

Let’s hope it doesn’t burst into flames as happened to a Canadian rider, leading to a worldwide recall.

Smith Jones Solicitors

Ducati Panigale V4 catches fire Canada safety recall
V4 catches fire in canada

Exotic pursuits

Other police forces have used similar exotic machines in their patrols.

Italian police in particular are known to have some exotic pursuit and patrol machinery such as Ducati Multistradas, various MV Agusta models and even a Lamborghini!

Here in Australia, police have been seen patrolling on a variety of unmarked exotic machines such as a Suzuki Hayabusa and a BMW S 1000 RR.

See also
Queensland Police Service unmarked Suzuki Hayabusa patrol bike - Ducati Panigale V4
Queensland Police Service unmarked Suzuki Hayabusa patrol bike

So if you are thinking of outrunning the police, think again.

Failure to stop for police or leading them on a high-speed pursuit could end up costing you dearly.

Apart from dangerous driving and speeding fines, you could also cop a minimum fine of $5500 and a minimum disqualification period of two years for evading police.

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Mark Hinchliffe
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2 Comments

  1. BikeSafe is a brilliant scheme, a short classroom session and an afternoon of observed ride, it’s a subsidised taste into advanced training. I did mine on a XV535 still with the 33bhp restrictors in (you used to be able to ride a 125 on L plates, take the test on a 125, ride out 2 years of any bike you could get restricted to 33bhp and away you went). A narrow v-twin or for that matter anything else with narrow bars and bodywork can make substantially better progress through city traffic than an R1200RTP right up to the point the observer goes for a polite toot of the horn and forgets it’s wired to the lights and sirens, causing the traffic to part like the red sea. From what the observer was saying ultimate performance is not really required for the duties of a UK police bike (with the exception of the Special Protection Group), but all-day comfort and exemplary traffic manners is. For the most part it’s incredibly risky for a police rider to persue a larger vehicle where the driver is intent on escaping, that’s what helicopters are for and the bikes see most use in dealing with traffic incidents in near-gridlocked cities. Those R1200s do stop stupid fast though to the point of nearly catching me out.

    The problem the Bikesafe and similar schemes face is they don’t reach or appeal to the people who could benefit most from them as it’s not seen as a particularly cool thing to do.

  2. What a fantastic concept is Bikesafe, if only the Australian constablery’s would get on board with such a scheme that would not only enhance rider safety but may also breakdown the negative attitudes some have towards our police services.

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