After three competitions, one of which being a statewide chute out that lasted four days, Southlake police officer Craig D’Amico now has the hardware to prove that he’s an expert on a Harley Davidson.
Working with the Southlake Police Department for over five years, Craig recently became part of the traffic division a little over a year ago. A sports bike fan during his teenage years, Craig says he loves patrolling on the 2019 Harley Davidsons that the department provides.
“It’s a lot more freeing,” Craig says of his experiences working with the traffic division. “Everything seems a lot easier when it comes to maneuvering your bike.”
After joining the traffic division, Craig competed in two motorcycle-riding competitions, which he says he considers to be training opportunities to learn new skills and practices from surrounding police departments. He recently drove in his third competition at the seventh annual Capital of Texas Police Motorcycle Chute Out, which took place over four days in Buda. Craig says cones were set up for motorcyclists to navigate through, and while participants got to practice on one course for preparation, another one was a challenge course that nobody got to survey beforehand.
“It’s very specific in how you’re supposed to run the course,” Craig says. “You’re expected to just jump right into it and maneuver your motorcycle through that whole pattern. You’ve got to lean into it as the steering wheel turns all the way to the side. It was very difficult.”
Craig ended up winning first in his division for the Chute Out, the first time he’s ever done so for a competition he participated in. Craig says he was proud to have earned the first-place trophy, but he’s looking forward to getting back to the traffic division and working out on the streets.
“There’s definitely a sense of accomplishment and pride for the city I work for,” Craig expresses. "I’ll definitely enjoy getting back at it and serving the people of Southlake.”