Special Report - May 2025

STEAM Report

By Krissy Bowe

Recently I was able to attend STEAM which was hosted by ABATE of Iowa. It was a great weekend filled with valuable information. As I thought about which part of the weekend I really wanted to write about due to my scholarship, I oddly decided to write about the 1 frustrating part of my weekend. I decided to share in hopes to try to bring both sides together a little more. To help both sides communicate a little differently, and to hopefully, help others realize that how you choose to present something impacts how much your message gets heard.

Since joining ABATE and the MRF the one issue I have struggled to support is Profiling. I don't feel like I have been profiled by Police and my interactions with them have been good. I have heard stories from others about their negative interactions but as we all know, it can be difficult to put ourselves in others' shoes. So, since the conference had a speaker on Profiling, I decided to attend in hopes maybe my mind could be changed. Maybe I would gain a new perspective.

Shortly after the speaker started, he warned that if you backed the blue or were a cop, you should pry leave now because you aren't going to like it. Now, I was never a cop but I do know some and have a good friend who was a former Chief in the community I grew up in. I have heard and witnessed some of what they deal with so I do consider myself someone who supports the blue because there is no way I could do what they do every day. While his comment put me back in my seat, I challenged myself to listen further. This was a way for me to learn more about the other side. He started to talk about how officers talk to you when they pull you over. How they are always trying to find a way to nail you. This is not a quote but close, he commented that No Officer gives a **** about you. You're dumb if you think they care about you. It was at this point that I figured I better leave because otherwise I may find myself arguing and that wasn't how I wanted to represent myself or ABATE of Wisconsin.

I found myself a hallway chair and began reflecting. I certainly couldn't understand the disdain in his comments. I grew up with both of my parents and other family members riding so my passion started young. My town was a small community with a police force that often people felt was more substantial than was needed. I can say, I agreed when I got a speeding ticket as a teenager... But I was speeding and got pulled over twice in a week, so as an adult I recognized that I deserved the ticket. A few years later I found myself running a bar right in front of the station and this is where my opinion started to form on PD. On a regular basis the cops would stop in and chat with me after closing. This meant they weren't trying to nail my customers. They were making sure I stayed safe. Unfortunately, there were times that I needed to call them to ask them to sit with me at close because of events that happened in the night. I experienced club members pulling weapons on other customers because they looked like someone that someone had gotten into a fight within the past. I had a female with a club pull me by my hair over the bar because I refused to serve her, and I had club members threaten to bust the machines open since they happen to lose money. Now please know I'm not sharing this because I think club members are bad, and I want others to think that way. I hope that most of you who know me know I don't care what colors you are wearing, I care about the person you are. I share this because I want people to realize that if I had profiled all bikers based on the experience I had with those club members, I would pry have a bad opinion. Instead, I judged them based on their character and continue to judge all the people I meet based on their individual character.

So as bikers, if we don't want cops or anyone else to profile us based on how we are dressed, what we are driving, or who we are with... Then why do we think it's ok to profile law enforcement based on their occupation? Why do we think it’s ok to say the actions of some are how all will treat us?

I know when I wake up and go to work every day, I don't have to worry about people wanting to hurt or kill me based on my job. I occasionally have to deal with people being rude or cussing at me but overall, it’s not often. They often see people at their worst and do their best to keep everyone safe while having others ready to tell a portion of the story and discredit them. I recognize that this sounds like I think they are all great. Trust me, I know that some can be criminals themselves. Some come with a chip on their shoulder and act as if they walk on water. Some treat us like we are bad just because of how we look. Just like us, some are good and some are not.

So, this takes me to how we can move forward together. How do we stop the profiling that is actually happening? Instead of bikers profiling all cops as not caring about people and looking for things to get you on; let's give them the benefit of the doubt and treat them as if they aren't profiling us and they do care. Let's treat them how we want them to treat us. Lead the way in positive interactions. Just this last week I reached out to the County PD to make sure it would be ok for us to host an Awareness Rally on the corner of State & County highways. When we spoke, I explained that the intersection was important to our Region because one of our members was killed and another injured in a crash there due to a car running the stop sign. He shared that he had been on scene at the crash that day, he shared that it was a bad crash, and he expressed his sorrow for our loss. We continued in conversation and after a bit he asked if we would be interested in having a booth at the County’s version of National Night Out. (For any of you who don't know, it is a night that communities host events as a safe & free night for families to come out and have fun. Often, they have helicopters, fire trucks, squads, and community groups there.) I quickly responded to him that we would love to be part of it, and we talked about how much the kids will love to sit on the bikes. This is an example of how when you go into a conversation showing respect, it is more likely to be reciprocated. If you go into a conversation with attitude, it also can often be reciprocated.

So, as you look to prevent profiling or really get any message across, please remember to think about how you would react to someone else approaching you the way you are them. Display the energy you hope to get. If we can do that, maybe we will make more progress on the issues. Don't be the reason that others walk away from the conversation. Trust me, I know this can be easier said than done. It's something I know I fail at on occasions too. In the case we fail today, all we can do is try again tomorrow.

If you made it this far, thanks for reading.