Bikers, officers square off for fun

By Jean Reid Norman (contact)

Saturday, May 9, 2009 | 2:20 p.m.

Las Vegas Deputy City Marshal Rick Stepp took off his helmet, wiped the sweat from his forehead and caught his breath after a lap on the dirt track at Veterans Memorial Park's BMX track in Boulder City Friday night.

"A 5-year-old tore me up," he said after coming in near the end of his heat. To give himself a little credit, he noted his patrol bicycle, twice the height of most of the two-wheelers on the track, was made for street riding, not the ups and downs of the BMX track.

"These aren't designed to do this," he said. "They work well on the streets, though."

Officers from five different police agencies in the Southern Nevada headed to the BMX track May 8 for the annual BMX Is Not A Crime, an event designed to give police officers and youngsters a chance to interact in a fun atmosphere. Between 130 and 140 BMX riders, from age 2 to 45, turned out.

For most of the youngsters, it was another night of dirt racing, where they would rack up points for their season. Being able to race the officers added an element of fun to the competition, but BMXers were there for the races.

Hayden Hosek, 5, a kindergartener at Sue Morrow Elementary School in Henderson, stopped and visited with the two mounted patrols from UNLV, but he said he was there to race against other riders. He's pretty good, he added.

"We didn't know it would be this big a deal," his father, Shawn Hosek, said. "It's great for the kids."

Having the officers on their track made the racing a bit more exciting, Dillon Farrow, 15, who attends Cheyenne High School, said.

"It's fresh meat. We can throw some elbows without getting in trouble," he said.

His friend T.J. Phillips, 15, who attends the Northwest Academy, added the riders could get tough with the officers -- "if they can keep up."

Two riders who are hoping to make the 2012 Olympics -- Audrey Zuloagla, 15, and Jeremy Rammel, 16 -- turned out for the event.

"It gives us kids more perspective," she said. And it lets the police see the kids in a different light -- "that there are other kids who want to do stuff with their lives, not just hang out," she said.

Trenton Motley, 12, who attends Elton Garrett Junior High in Boulder City, said outside the track, the police look at the youngsters with bikes like troublemakers. Here, it was different.

"These cops here are good people," he said. "When you get to know them, they're real nice."

Josh Proctor, 10, a student at Fay Galloway Elementary School in Henderson bragged that he beat North Las Vegas Police officer Bruce Reeves by a full bike length.

Rylan Coleman, 10, a student at Martha P. King Elementary in Boulder City, beat Reeves by five bike lengths, he said.

"It's not hard to beat the police," Ryan said. "They're not so intimidating."

The officers all were given medals, even though none of them placed in the top three in any heat.

Stepp accepted his with surprise.

"A 5-year-old beat me, and I get a medal?" he said. "That's cool."